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SI 


GASTON  COUNTY: 

ECONOMIC  AND 
SOCIAL 


by  s.  h.  hobbs,  jr. 

University  of  North  Carolina 

February,  1920 


O 


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BELMONT,  N.  C. 


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GASTON  COUNTY: 

ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL 


ByS.  H.  HOBBS,Jr. 


A  LABORATORY  STUDY  IN 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH 
CAROLINA,  DEPARTMENT  OF 
RURAL  ECONOMICS  AND 
SOCIOLOGY 


THE  EXPENSE  OF  PUBLICATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  IS  BORNE  BY 
THE  ADVERTISING   OF    WIDE-AWAKE   AND    GENEROUS    BUSINESS 
MEN.    WE  WISH  TO  EXTEND  TO  THEM  OUR  HEARTIEST  APPRECIA- 
TION AND  BEST  WISHES 


February,  1920 


RALEIGH 

Edwards  &  Broughton  Printing  Co. 

1920 


Contents 


PAGE 

1.  A  Brief  History  of  Gaston  County 5 

2.  Natural  Resources    13 

3.  Gaston  County  Industries    18 

4.  Facts   About   the   Folks 27 

5.  Facts  About   Wealth   and   Taxation 32 

6.  Rural  White    Schools 39 

7.  Farm  Conditions  and  Practices 48 

8.  Food  and  Feed  Production  and  the  Local  Market 
Problem    56 

9.  Things  to  be  Proud  of  in  Gaston  County 71 

10.  Gaston's  Problems  and  Their  Solution 79 


Acknowledgments 


I  wish,  first,  to  extend  my  thanks  to  the  business  men  of  Gaston  for 
making  possible  the  publication  of  this  booklet  by  furnishing  the 
business  manager  with  liberal  advertisements.  I  am  sure  the  citizens 
of  the  county  this  bulletin  is  trying  to  serve  will  extend  to  these  firms 
their  heartiest  support. 

The  publication  of  this  booklet  was  made  possible  by  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  T.  J.  Brawley  of  Gastonia,  a  Senior  at  the  University.  He  has 
worked  untiringly  and  has  displayed  good  business  abilities  as  Busi- 
ness Manager  of  this  publication.  The  advertisements  were  secured 
by  Mr.  Brawley  by  letters  and  in  personal  visits  to  the  concerns  during 
the  Christmas  holidays. 

The  first  chapter  in  this  publication,  The  Historical  Background,  is 
the  work  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Rhyne  of  Bessemer  City,  a  member  of  the  1919 
class  at  the  University.  This  chapter  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Rhyne 
during  his  Senior  year,  being  a  laboratory  study  in  the  Department 
of  Rural  Economics  and  Sociology. 

The  data  in  this  booklet  have  been  collected  largely  from  the  files 
of  the  Department  of  Rural  Economics  and  Sociology,  founded  and 
guarded  by  an  untiring  worker  and  faithful  public  servant,  Prof.  E.  C. 
Branson.  His  aid  has  been  invaluable  in  shaping  this  booklet  for 
publication. 

S.  H.  Hobbs,  Jr., 
Department  of  Rural  Economics  and  Sociology, 
University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  February,  1920. 


A  Brief  History  of  Gaston  County 

Origin,  Location,  and  Early  History 

Gaston  county  was  formed  from  the  neighboring  county  of  Lincoln 
in  1846.  The  county  gets  its  name  from  the  Hon.  William  Gaston,  a 
noted  supreme  court  judge  of  North  Carolina.  The  bill  authorizing 
the  erection  of  the  county  also  contained  a  provision  for  the  site  of 
the  county  seat,  the  same  to  be  within  two  miles  of  Long  Creek  Bap- 
tist church.  In  accordance  with  the  authorization,  the  town  of  Dallas 
was  laid  off  and  built.  Dallas  is  named  in  honor  of  the  Hon.  George 
M.  Dallas,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  in  1844.  This  town 
remained  the  county  seat  until  1911  when,  after  a  very  hotly  contested 
election  on  the  part  of  those  wishing  the  county  seat  to  remain  at 
Dallas  and  those  desiring  it  to  be  removed  to  Gastonia,  the  latter  won, 
and  Gastonia.  from  1911,  has  been  the  capital  city  of  the  county. 

Gaston  county  lies  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  state  and 
borders  the  South  Carolina  line.  It  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Meck- 
lenburg county,  on  the  north  by  Lincoln  county,  and  on  the  west  by 
Cleveland.  The  northern  and  southern  boundaries  are  straight,  while 
the  eastern  and  western  are  irregular,  the  eastern  boundary  being 
formed  by  the  Catawba  river. 

Gaston  is  one  of  the  smaller  counties  of  the  state,  being  seventieth 
in  size,  and  containing  about  370  square  miles,  or  236,800  acres,  with 
a  dimension  of  17%  miles  north  and  south  and  an  average  width  of 
20  miles  east  and  west.  The  county  is  situated  in  the  Piedmont  region, 
with  a  view  of  the  foot-hills  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  which  can  be  seen 
from  the  higher  points  in  the  county  with  clear  weather  prevailing. 

The  land  in  general  slopes  toward  the  southeast,  the  extreme  eastern 
side  to  the  south,  and  the  extreme  northwest  corner  to  the  northeast. 
The  surface  is  from  gently  rolling  to  hilly  and  breaking  into  several 
mountainous  areas.  The  mountain  peaks  are  Pinnacle  and  Crowders 
mountains  of  the  Kings  Mountain  chain,  with  heights  above  the  sea- 
level  of  1.705  feet  and  1,624  feet  respectively.  The  other  two  peaks 
worthy  of  mention  are  Spenser  mountain  in  the  east-central  part  of 
the  county,  and  Payseur  mountain  to  the  northwest  central  part  of  the 
county.  Spenser  mountain  gets  its  name  from  one  Zeb  Spenser,  a 
Tory  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  who  resided  there.  The  story  goes 
that  he  was  caught,  tried,  and  condemned  to  be  shot.  He  begged  hard 
for  his  life  and  promised  allegiance  to  the  Revolutionary  cause  if  he 
were  spared.  He  was  allowed  to  live,  oath  being  taken  on  an  old 
almanac,  in  the  absence  of  a  Bible. 


6  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

In  the  vicinity  of  Cherryville  the  elevation  above  sea-level  is  about 
1,000  feet  and  around  Bessemer  City  900  feet,  while  the  mountain  there 
is  considerably  higher. 

The  South  Fork  river  which  flows  across  the  county  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  with  the  Catawba,  which  forms  the  eastern  boundary, 
constitute  the  two  principal  streams,  although  there  are  several  creeks 
traversing  different  parts  of  the  county  that  are  of  minor  importance. 

As  regards  railroad  transportation  the  county  is  advantageously 
located,  being  crossed  from  east  to  west  by  the  main  line  of  the  South- 
ern Railroad,  and  from  north  to  south  by  the  Carolina  and  North- 
western Railroad.  The  Seaboard  Air  Line  Railway  enters  the  county 
at  Mt.  Holly,  crosses  the  northeastern  part  of  the  county  into  Lincoln 
county,  and  again  enters  Gaston  to  the  northwest,  passing  through 
Cherryville.  The  fourth  railroad  is  the  Piedmont  and  Northern  which 
comes  only  as  far  as  Gastonia  by  way  of  Belmont  and  Mt.  Holly.  The 
ample  railway  facilities  have  been  of  great  benefit  in  helping  to  develop 
Gaston  county  along  all  lines.  The  ample  railway  mileage  has  made 
it  possible  and  easy  for  Gaston,  through  its  textile  industry,  to  develop 
into  its  present  position  of  importance — namely,  as  the  textile  center 
of  North  Carolina.  And  what  is  more,  Gaston  county  leads  the  whole 
United  States  in  the  number  of  cotton  mills.  The  mills  now  number 
nearly  100. 

There  are  more  towns  in  Gaston  than  in  any  other  county  of  North 
Carolina.  Gastonia,  the  county  seat  and  chief  commercial  center,  has 
a  population  in  1920  of  12,871  while  Dallas,  Cherryville,  Mt.  Holly, 
Belmont,  Bessemer  City,  Stanley,  Lowell,  and  McAdenville  are  all 
thrifty  business  towns.  Some  of  the  smaller  towns,  each  of  which  has 
one  or  more  cotton  mills,  are  High  Shoals,  Hardins,  Mountain  Island, 
Tuckaseege,  Phillipsburg,  Mayworth,  and  Spenser  Mountain. 

The  large  number  of  towns  offer  good  markets  for  all  farm  products 
grown  in  the  county.  The  demand  so  far  exceeds  the  supply  obtain- 
able that  high  prices  generally  prevail.  Cotton,  the  chief  crop,  finds 
a  ready  market,  a  great  amount  being  consumed  by  the  mills  at  home. 
Other  crops  are  corn,  wheat,  oats,  the  hay  crops,  and  a  number  of 
well  paying  truck  crops,  grown  for  the  local  markets  and  mill  village 
sections.  The  usual  local  market  problem  is  made  much  simpler  by 
the  big  demand  for  home-grown  products  on  the  part  of  the  mill  opera- 
tives. This  one  factor  has  doubtless  contributed  greatly  toward  safe- 
guarding the  farm  and  the  farming  industry,  and  enabling  the  rural 
sections  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  and  development  of  the  urban 
areas.  The  attractive  wage  paid  the  mill  operative  certainly  would 
have  tended  to  draw,  and  has  drawn,  many  people  from  the  ranks  of 
the  farmers.  However,  Gaston  is  the  most  densely  populated  rural 
county  of  the  state,  as  well   as   the   center  of  the   textile   industry  of 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  7 

North  Carolina — a  fact  which  goes  far  toward  proving  that  farming 
can  be  made  a  successful  business  alongside  the  cotton  mill  industry. 

The  history  of  Gaston  county  can  very  easily  be  divided  into  two 
distinct  epochs.  The  earlier  period,  representing  the  period  of  slow 
progress  and  development,  has  its  beginning  in  early  colonial  days  with 
the  coming  of  the  first  settlers  to  this  region,  and  extends  on  down 
to  the  year  1872.  The  year  1872  is  very  important  in  the  history  of 
Gaston  county.  It  marks  the  date  of  the  building  of  the  first  railroad 
through  the  county.  The  later  period,  representing  the  period  of  rapid 
progress  and  development,  begins  with  the  year  1872  and  extends  on 
down  to  the  present  time.  It  is  this  later  division  with  which  we  are 
particularly  concerned,  because  it  has  been  since  the  year  1872  that 
Gaston  has  emerged  from  a  position  as  one  of  the  most  backward  coun- 
ties of  the  state  to  a  position  of  first  importance.  This  period  has  seen 
its  transformation  from  banner  whiskey-making  county  to  the  banner 
cotton-mill  county  of  the  state,  which  position  she  now  holds.  It  has 
witnessed  an  unprecedented  increase  in  the  county's  population  among 
other  counties  in  the  state,  Gaston  having  risen  from  the  48th  place  in 
1880,  to  10th  place  in  1910.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  Gaston 
is  a  small  county — only  29  other  counties  of  the  state  are  smaller. 

The  earlier  historical  period  of  Gaston  county  is  one  in  which  we 
have  nothing  to  boast  of.  Progress  was  slow.  Population  was  scarce. 
The  county  roads,  the  only  means  of  transportation,  were  rough  and 
very  badly  cut  up,  especially  during  the  winter  months.  Agriculture 
was  the  chief  means  of  making  a  livelihood  and  the  absence  of  ample 
marketing  facilities  made  it  necessary  for  the  farmers  to  engage  in 
the  live-at-home  type  of  farming  almost  entirely.  The  numerous  small 
local  markets  of  the  cotton-mill  period  had  not  yet  come  into  exist- 
ence. 

Although  the  population  during  the  days  of  the  Revolution  was 
small,  and  means  of  transportation  meagre,  the  spirit  of  freedom  soared 
high  in  the  breasts  of  the  brave  sons  of  Gaston.  That  spirit  of  free- 
dom was  of  the  true  and  lasting  type,  the  type  that  never  failed  even 
amid  all  the  hardships  and  sufferings  the  thirteen  colonies  went 
through  during  their  seven  years'  fight  for  freedom.  The  victory  at 
Kings  Mountain  was  not  a  mere  accident;  it  was  due  to  the  energy 
and  fighting  ability  of  the  brave  heroes  of  Gaston,  Lincoln,  Cleveland, 
and  Rutherford. 

The  post-revolutionary  days  were  days  of  slow,  but  gradual,  devel- 
opment for  Gaston  county.  Her  history  during  all  this  period  up  to 
1846,  the  year  that  Gaston  was  formed  from  Lincoln  county,  is  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  Lincoln.  Information  as  to  the  events  that 
took  place  in  the  territory  later  to  be  known  as  Gaston  county  is  suf- 
ficiently definite  to  give  an  exact  summary  of  the  most  important 
historical  events  of  pre-Gaston  days. 


8  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Early  Settlers 

Just  here  it  might  be  well  to  give  some  idea  of  the  nationalities  of 
the  settlers  in  this  territory.  The  three  largest  racial  elements  to 
settle  here,  and  from  whom  are  descended  the  great  bulk  of  the  present- 
day  population  of  Gaston,  were  the  Scotch-Irish,  the  Germans,  often 
called  the  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  from  whence  they  came,  and  the  High- 
land Scotch.  The  Scotch-Irish  were  the  first  to  come.  They  settled 
mainly  in  the  regions  directly  bordering  the  Catawba  and  nearby 
streams.  These  people,  like  both  the  Germans  and  Scotch  Highlanders, 
were  an  industrious  folk,  prepared  to  tackle  and  overcome  the  diffi- 
culties ever  in  the  path  of  the  pioneer.  The  Indian  soon  proved  him- 
self an  unfriendly  neighbor  to  his  newly  arrived  competitor,  who  soon 
showed  the  Red  Man,  through  his  energy  and  ability,  that  he  had  come 
to  stay.  Farming  was  the  chief  industry.  A  number  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  element  were  well  educated,  some  having  studied  at  English 
universities,  while  others  had  received  their  training  at  Princeton, 
then  known  as  the  college  of  New  Jersey. 

Some  of  the  larger  families,  descendants  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  are 
the  Moores,  the  Armstrongs,  the  Brevards,  and  the  Masons. 

The  German  group  settled  west  of  the  Catawba  river  about  the  year 
1750.  Like  the  Scotch-Irish,  their  predecessors  by  a  few  years,  these 
people  were  thrifty  and  capable  of  development,  first  along  agricultural 
lines  and  later  along  industrial  lines.  To-day  some  of  the  most  promi- 
nent mill  men  of  the  county  are  descendants  of  these  early  German 
settlers. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  larger  families  descendants  of  this 
group :  Eddleman,  Finger,  Henkel,  Hoover,  Killiam,  Keever,  Leper, 
Long,  Lutz,  Miller,  Nantz,  Rhyne,  Taylor,  Weber,  Yoder,  and  Zim- 
merman. 

The  third  group,  the  Scotch-Highlanders,  came  to  this  section  of  the 
state  from  Fayetteville,  and  played  a  great  part  in  the  future  devel- 
opment of  the  county.  The  Alexander,  Graham.  Henderson,  Johnson, 
McLean,  and  Morrison  families  are  of  this  group.  The  other  groups 
of  settlers  are  all  smaller  in  number  than  the  Scotch-Highlanders.  All 
the  different  racial  elements  in  Gaston,  and  they  are  many,  have  each 
contributed  their  part  in  making  the  county  what  it  is  to-day.  All  of 
them  have  helped  to  put  it  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  progrrs  ivs 
counties  of  the  state. 

Later  History 

Not  until  we  come  into  the  field  of  textile  manufacture  do  we  reach 
the  predominating  industry  in  the  county.  Gaston  is  truly  the  textile 
center  of  the  state. 

The  first  cotton  mill  was  built  in  Gaston  county  seventy  years  ago. 
This   was   the  Mountain   Island   mill,    constructed  in   1848,    two   years 


Gaston   County:  Economic  and  Social  9 

after  the  formation  of  the  county  from  Lincoln.  The  growth  of  the 
mill  business  was  slow  for  the  next  twenty-five  years.  During  all  these 
years,  from  1848  to  1872,  only  one  additional  cotton  mill  was  built. 
The  third  was  established  in  1872.  This  slow  beginning  was  probably 
due  in  part  to  the  undeveloped  resources  of  the  section,  as  well  as  in 
part  to  the  War  Between  the  States,  during  which  time  all  industries 
in  the  South  were  at  a  standstill.  The  fourth  mill  was  built  in  1S76. 
There  arose  during  this  period  another  industry  that  rivalled  the 
mill  business  and  even  threatened  to  exterminate  it.  The  whiskey 
business  first  made  its  appearance  as  an  important  industry  in  Gaston 
county  during  the  decade  from  1870  to  1880.  Its  growth  was  very  rapid. 
Much  of  the  farmer's  corn  found  its  way  into  a  new  channel  of  con- 
sumption. Whiskey  soon  became  so  plentiful  and  the  licensed  distillers 
so  numerous,  that  "all  you  can  drink  for  a  nickle"  was  one  of  the 
common  phrases  used  in  advertising. 

A  Moral  Revolution 

The  experience  of  Gaston  county  has  been  unique.  It  was  first  the 
banner  whiskey  county  of  North  Carolina,  and  now  it  is  the  banner 
cotton-mill  county.  The  cotton  mill  completely  displaced  the  distillery 
in  less  than  thirty  years  or  so.  How  did  this  transformation  come 
about?  This  is  a  question  that  deserves  special  consideration.  The 
common  theory  and  general  belief  prevailing  in  Gaston  during  the  later 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  that  the  mill  worker  would  never 
be  content  to  allow  his  drink  of  whiskey  to  be  taken  from  him.  The 
belief  that  whiskey  was  essential  to  industrial  efficiency  was  also 
prevalent.  Nevertheless  the  transformation  of  Gaston  from  a  wet  to 
a  dry  county  occurred  during  the  period  when  the  textile  industry 
witnessed  its  greatest  growth. 

In  1880  the  county  was  dotted  with  licensed  distilleries.  In  1885 
the  number  had  reached  forty,  and  three  years  later  the  maximum 
number  of  forty-eight  was  reached.  The  whiskey  business  in  that  year 
reached  its  greatest  development.  The  following  years  saw  it  gradu- 
ally decline,  through  the  repeated  efforts  of  prohibition  advocates. 
Full  credit  must  be  given  the  prohibitionists  for  combatting  the  liquor 
business  and  finally  obtaining  the  legal  provision  that  sounded  the 
death  knell  of  whiskey  making  in  Gaston  county. 

Also,  the  advocates  of  prohibition  deserve  the  credit  of  having  indi- 
rectly, at  least,  contributed  to  the  change  from  whiskey  making 
to  cotton  manufacture,  for  clearly,  when  the  former  was  generally 
discredited  and  later  disallowed  by  the  law,  the  interest  centered  in 
whiskey  making  had  to  be  diverted  to  other  fields  of  activity.  The 
cotton-mill  industry  natiu-ally  received  its  proportionate  share  of  the 
capital  thus  released.     It  is  fair  to  say  that  some  of  the  men  who  had 


10  Gaston,  County:  Economic  and  Social 

been  engaged  in  distilling  were  men  of  business  ability  and  integrity. 

During  the  decade  from  1878  to  1888,  the  period  of  greatest  activity 
in  the  distillery  business,  the  county  saw  a  comparatively  slow  devel- 
opment in  the  textile  industry,  only  four  mills  being  erected  during 
this  ten-year  period.  The  seven-year  period  from  1888  to  1895,  the 
years  that  witnessed  the  first  big  decline  in  the  number  of  distilleries 
(eight  ceasing  operation  during  this  period),  gives  us  an  entirely 
different  story  to  relate.  During  these  seven  years,  while  the  distil- 
leries were  decreasing  by  eight  in  number,  the  total  number  of  cotton 
mills  constructed  was  twenty.  The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  the 
above  figures  is  that  as  the  manufacture  of  whiskey  declined,  the 
interest  centered  in  it  was  shifted  over  to  the  textile  business,  with 
the  result  as  mentioned  above. 

In  1900  the  population  was  27,903,  the  valuation  of  taxable  property 
was  $5,166,129,  the  cotton  mills  reached  thirty  or  more  in  number, 
and  the  number  of  distilleries  was  reduced  to  sixteen. 

The  year  1903  saw  a  great  victory  for  the  prohibitionists  of  Gaston. 
The  law  passed  in  that  year  "prohibited  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
liquors  in  Gaston  county."  Wine  was  still  allowed  to  be  manufactured, 
while  whiskey  could  only  be  secured  by  prescription  of  a  qualified 
physician. 

The  five-year  period  following  the  passage  of  the  first  prohibition 
law  witnessed  remarkable  growth  in  Gaston  county  along  all  lines. 
The  population  of  the  county  increased  to  36,000  in  1908,  the  valuation 
of  taxable  property  amounted  to  $10,000,000,  and  the  sum  of  $35,782 
was  expended  for  educational  purposes. 

The  death  blow  to  the  shipment  of  whiskey  into  Gaston  was  dealt 
in  1915.  By  a  special  Act  of  the  Legislature  a  law  was  enforced  for 
Gaston  county  alone.  This  law  forbade  even  the  .shipment  of  two 
quarts  per  month,  the  amount  still  allowed  in  the  state,  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  county.  Since  the  year  1915,  it  has  been  illegal  to 
ship  any  amount  of  liquor  into  the  county. 

It  has  been  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  the  period  during  which 
the  liquor  business  has  been  abolished  in  Gaston,  that  the  cotton-mill 
industry  has  assumed  its  present  proportions.  Gaston  county  has 
emerged  from  the  shadow  of  the  liquor  evil  into  the  greatest  textile 
county  in  the  South,  without  any  loss  of  efficiency  by  her  industrial 
workers.  On  the  contrary,  increased  efficiency  has  come  through  pro- 
hibition. 

The  fact  that,  as  interest  in  the  manufacture  of  whiskey  declined, 
the  interest  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  was  stimulated  is  proved  by 
the  history  of  the  decline  of  the  former  and  the  development  of  the 
latter. 

By  whatever  means  the  transformation  may  have  been  accomplished, 
and   however   much   credit   for   this   transformation   we   may   attribute 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  11 

to  the  enemies  of  the  liquor  traffic,  the  transformation  has,  neverthe- 
less, been  made,  and  to-day  many  a  prosperous  cotton  mill  is  occu- 
pying the  same  site  formerly  occupied  by  distilleries  in  various  parts 
of  the  county.  To-day  there  are  more  than  ninety  mills  in  Gaston 
county,  "representing  one-seventh  of  the  textile  capital  of  the  state; 
operating  upwards  of  1,000,000  spindles,  one-sixth  of  all  the  .spindles  in 
operation  in  the  state,  and  one-fifteenth  of  the  looms;  consuming  one- 
fifth  of  the  raw  material  consumed  annually  in  North  Carolina,  and 
furnishing  employment  to  thousands  of  Gaston's  52,000  inhabitants." 

Numerous  small  industrial  enterprises  of  other  sorts  are  in  opera- 
tion in  all  parts  of  the  county.  These  are  eclipsed,  for  the  most  part, 
by  cotton  manufacture. 

Gaston  County  As  It  Is  Today 

But  no  history  of  Gaston  based  on  conditions  existing  in  1910  can 
begin  to  do  justice  to  the  real  Gaston  county  of  to-day.  During  the 
intervening  nine  years  the  county  has  made  gigantic  steps  forward 
in  economic,  social,  and  civic  enterprises,  especially  in  school  affairs. 
A  state  hospital  for  the  crippled  is  now  under  construction  just  out- 
side the  limits  of  Gastonia.  Gastonia  received  this  recognition  from 
the  state  through  the  influence  of  a  number  of  its  citizens  interested 
in  the  welfare  of  the  Tiny  Tims  of  North  Carolina. 

The  most  progressive  cotton-mill  men  are  recognizing  the  good 
results  obtained  from  satisfied  workers,  and  are  endeavoring  to  make 
their  employees  contented  by  means  of  better  village  homes,  better 
sanitary  conditions,  parks  and  playgrounds  for  the  young  people,  profit- 
sharing  plans  for  the  wage  earners,  and  so  on  and  on. 

The  expanse  of  the  cotton  mill  since  1912  has  been  great.  During 
the  period  of  the  World  War  there  have  been  as  many  as  four  mills 
under  construction  at  a  time  in  Gastonia  alone.  Five  are  now  in 
process  of  erection  within  county  limits. 

The  rapid  multiplication  of  cotton  mills  has  promoted  the  increase 
of  illiteracy  in  our  county  during  the  last  few  years.  In  the  literacy 
of  her  people  Gaston  county  does  not  stand  toward  the  top  of  the 
column  of  counties  in  North  Carolina.  She  occupies  a  position  a  little 
below  the  average.  This  difficulty  must  be  solved.  It  is  now,  and  has 
always  been,  a  great  temptation  to  the  children  in  the  mill  sections 
to  stop  school  at  an  early  age  to  work  in  the  mill,  and  they  have  very 
little  opportunity  later  to  go  to  school.  This  has  often  been  the  prac- 
tice in  spite  of  the  law.  However,  under  the  labor  and  school  laws 
combined,  young  children  under  14  years  of  age  ought  now  to  have 
a  better  chance  at  primary  and  grammar  school  education. 

The  educational  facilities  of  the  county  are  sufficiently  ample  to  take 
care  of  every  child  of  school  age.     Since  1910,  practically  every  town 


12  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

in  the  county  has  erected  a  new  school  building,  with  all  the  modern 
conveniences.  The  towns  of  Belmont,  Bessemer  City,  Cherryville,  and 
Lowell  have  each  constructed  new  school  buildings  in  the  last  few 
years,  while  the  city  of  Gastonia  has  constructed  three — a  central 
building,  and  an  East  and  West  Gastonia  School.  The  only  problem, 
as  yet  unsolved,  is  to  get  every  child  of  school  age  into  school.  This 
problem  will  soon  cease  to  exist,  once  the  child  labor  law  and  the  com- 
pulsory school  attendance  law  work  together  effectively  for  the  wel- 
fare of  Gaston  county  children. 

With  the  problem  of  education  for  the  mill  child  settled,  the  pros- 
pects of  a  greater  Gaston  in  the  future  are  exceedingly  bright. 

References 

1.  Soil    Survey    of    Gaston    County. — United    States    Department    of 
Agriculture. 

2.  Gaston  County:    A  Short  Economic  History- — F.  B.  Xims. 

3.  The   Story  of  Gaston   County. — Gastonia   Chamber   of    Commerce, 
Gastonia,  N.  C. 


II 


Natural  Resources 

1.  Timber 

Gaston  is  a  comparatively  small  county  having  an  area  of  only 
236,800  acres.  Its  topography  is  typical  of  the  Piedmont  region,  its 
broad,  rolling  ridges  being  broken  by  steeper  and  more  hilly  regions 
along  the  streams. 

Half  of  the  present  area,  if  cleared,  would  be  susceptible  of  prof- 
itable cultivation,  though  more  careful  handling  than  a  majority  of 
the  farms  have  received  or  are  now  receiving  would  be  necessary  to 
prevent  erosion  and  to  increase  its  fertility.  The  other  half  can 
profitably  be  kept  under  forest  cover. 

There  are  no  large  timber  tracts  in  the  county,  the  greater  part  of 
the  land  being  held  in  medium  and  small  sized  farms.  Only  about 
thirty  holdings  exceed  500  acres  in  extent,  and  a  considerable  portion 
of  these  is  cleared.  Only  six  of  the  above  tracts  exceed  1,000  acres 
in  extent  and  very  little  good  timber  is  found  on  any  of  them. 

The  original  forests  of  Gaston  were  the  typical  hardwoods  and  pines 
of  the  Piedmont  region,  though  there  were  certain  areas  of  stiff,  red 
clay  soils,  on  which  no  pine  was  found.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
small  wood-lots  which  the  farmers  have  carefully  preserved,  no  virgin 
timber  remains  in  the  county.  What  old  timber  remains  is  largely 
oak,  most  of  it  over-mature  and  stag-headed,  with  occasional  tracts  of 
old  growth  of  forest  short-leaf  pine. 

The  present  wooded  area  consists  of  twenty-three  percent  hardwood 
timber,  containing  little  or  no  pine;  sixty-three  percent  hardwood  and 
pine  timber;  and  fourteen  percent  old-field  pine  stands.  The  pine  is 
absent  from  hardwood  forests  either  because  it  has  never  been  growing 
there  or  because  it  has  been  cut  out  and  conditions  have  been  unfavor- 
able for  its  reseeding;  this  latter  is  probably  the  more  likely. 

Hardwood  and  pine  forests  are  composed  chiefly  of  second  growth 
oak,  hickory,  and  short-leaf  pine,  with  some  old  culled  trees  of  these 
species  on  the  original  forest  land.  A  small  proportion  of  the  old 
fields  is  being  covered  with  second-growth  hardwoods,  such  as  oak, 
hickory,  poplar,  and  sweet  gum,  chiefly  along  the  streams,  in  old  fence 
jambs,  and  other  waste  spaces.  The  pine  is  practically  all  second 
growth,  having  come  up  since  the  old  trees  were  cut.  Probably  three- 
fourths  of  the  merchantable  timber  in  these  wooded  areas  is  second- 
growth  pine.     The  old  field  pine  type  consists  of  pure  or  nearly  pure 


14  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

stands  of  short-leaf  pine,  varying  in  size  from  saplings  to  large  poles. 
Probably  not  more  than  a  third  of  these  stands  now  contain  merchant- 
able timber.  These  pine  stands,  where  large  enough  for  timber,  are 
valuable  and  add  materially  to  the  value  of  the  farm  on  which  they 
are  growing. 

Something  over  thirty  small  sawmills,  with  an  average  annual  cut 
of  just  over  100,000  feet  of  lumber,  are  operating  in  Gaston  county. 
The  lumber  output  consists  of  old  field  pine  especially  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county.  In  the  northern  and  eastern  sections  consider- 
able oak  is  cut  in  addition  to  the  pine.  The  lumber  industry  is  at  a 
low  ebb  in  Gaston  for  the  county  has  long  ago  passed  from  a  lumbering 
stage  to  an  agricultural  and  manufacturing  stage. 

2.  Drainage  and  Power 

The  natural  drainage  of  Gaston  county  is  excellent,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  spots  of  meadow  and  bottom  lands,  and  even  these  could 
be  drained,  reclaimed,  and  made  productive  by  straightening  out  the 
natural  drainage  ways.  The  Catawba  river  flows  southward  along  the 
eastern  side  of  the  county,  and  the  South  Fork  river,  entering  the 
county  near  the  middle  of  the  northern  boundary  and  flowing  south- 
easterly, empties  into  the  Catawba  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
county  on  the  South  Carolina  line.  Crowders,  Catawba,  and  Long 
creeks  are  the  principal  streams  which  flow  across  a  part  of  the  county 
and  empty  into  South  Fork  river,  while  Dutchmans  and  Stanley  creeks 
flow  into  the  Catawba  river. 

These  rivers  and  creeks,  with  their  intricate  system  of  smaller 
streams,  drain  the  county  admirably. 

Gaston  has  but  recently  begun  to  turn  her  streams  into  power  for 
operating  mills  of  all  sorts.  The  streams  have  been  largely  used  to 
run  grist  mills  and  cotton  gins,  and  a  few  cotton  mills  have  been 
located  at  favorable  points.  South  Fork  and  Catawba  rivers  have 
good  falls  at  many  places,  and  these  places  will  in  the  near  future  be 
utilized  for  power  to  operate  mills  and  factories.  At  present  only  one 
of  the  77  cotton-mill  companies  of  the  county  operates  its  plant  by 
water  alone;  five  use  water  and  electricity,  while  the  rest  are  oper- 
ated by  electricity,  or  steam  and  electricity. 

3.  Minerals 

In  a  few  localities  in  Gaston  there  are  found  rocks  of  sedimentary 
origin.  However  the  more  important  rocks  and  those  which  cover  a 
large  area  are  granites,  gneisses,  and  schists.  Granite  is  particularly 
noticeable  around  Gastonia,  Dallas,  Highshoals,  near  Union  Church, 
northeast  of  McAdenville,  and  between  Dallas  and  Bessemer  City.  In 
certain  parts  of  the  northwest  section  around  Cherryville,  and  also  to 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  15 

the  west  of  Mountain  Island,  a  very  coarse-grained  granite  is  promi- 
nent, together  with  gneisses  and  schists.  The  weathering  of  the 
coarser  granites  has  given  rise  to  the  Durham  coarse  sandy  loam  and 
the  Cecil  coarse  sandy  loam,  and  also  in  part  to  the  Cecil  sandy  loam. 
The  Cecil  sandy  loam  and  also  the  Cecil  fine  sandy  loam  have  been 
derived  from  granites  and  gneisses.  There  are  small  areas  of  talcose 
schists  and  felcite  schists  which  give  rise  mainly  to  the  Cecil  loams. 

East  of  Pasour  Mountain  and  east  of  Bessemer  City  there  is  a  fine- 
grained sandstone,  which  has  modified  to  some  extent  the  Cecil  fine 
sandy  loam  and  the  Cecil  fine  sand  found  there.  Throughout  the 
county  and  especially  in  the  eastern  section  the  underlying  rocks  are 
gneisses  and  schists  with  some  fine-grained  granite,  and  these  have 
weathered  down  to  form  the  Cecil  clay  loam  and  the  Cecil  clay. 

On  the  mountains,  knolls,  and  peaks,  quartzite  is  the  principal  rock. 
Its  resistant  action  to  the  weathering  forces  is  the  direct  cause  of 
these  various  elevations.  In  many  places  are  seen  a  green  diorite  and 
other  dark-colored  basic  rocks,  which  have  weathered  into  a  dull-col- 
ored soil  with  an  impervious  subsoil  called  Iredell  clay  loam.  Through- 
out the  various  formations  are  to  be  found  veins  of  quartz,  and  frag- 
ments of  this  rock  persist  in  the  soils. 

The  more  precious  minerals  are  not  to  be  found  in  Gaston  but  she 
has  some  granite  of  good  quality. 

4.  Soils 

The  soil  types  in  Gaston  county  are  those  characteristic  of  the 
Piedmont  section,  which  extends  from  northern  Pennsylvania  to  east- 
ern Alabama.  They  have  been  grouped  mainly  in  the  Cecil  series. 
The  Durham  and  Henderson  are  associated  with  the  Cecil  .series  but 
they  occupy  less  than  three  percent  of  the  area  of  the  county. 

Gaston  is  fortunate  in  having  more  than  half  her  area  composed  of 
the  two  best  soils  in  the  Piedmont  province.  These  are  the  Cecil  sandy 
loam  and  the  Cecil  clay  loam.  All  of  the  more  important  towns  of 
the  Piedmont  are  situated  on  either  one  or  the  other  of  these  soils 
and  their  growth  has  been  due  largely  to  the  superior  adaptability 
of  these  soils  to  the  cotton,  hay  and  forage,  and  grain  crops  of  this 
part  of  the  state. 

The  Cecil  sandy  loam,  in  all  of  its  varieties,  is  a  mellow  and  easily 
tilled  soil.  Improved  machinery  can  be  used  over  a  large  part  of  it. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  types  in  Gaston  and  occurs  in  large 
unbroken  areas  extending  north  and  south  through  the  central  part 
of  the  county. 

The  surface  of  this  type  is  gently  rolling,  becoming  more  rolling  as 
the  streams  are  approached.  Its  surface  drainage  is  all  that  could  be 
desired  and  the  inter-stream  areas  lie  beautifully  for  general  farming 
purposes. 


16  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

A  large  percentage  of  this  type  is  cleared  and  cultivated.  Cotton 
is  the  principal  crop  grown  on  it  at  present  and  with  good  cultivation 
the  farmers  secure  yields  averaging  from  one-half  to  one  bale  per  acre. 
This  soil  is  also  well  adapted  to  corn,  wheat,  hay,  and  sweet  potatoes, 
unusually  high  per  acre  yields  of  all  these  crops  having  been  secured 
where  proper  methods  of  farming  are  practised. 

It  can  be  easily  and  greatly  improved  and  such  improvement  is 
quite  lasting  on  account  of  the  red  clay  subsoil  foundation,  which 
prevents  leaching.  By  crop  rotation,  deep  plowing,  and  turning  under 
of  leguminous  crops  and  coarse  manures  this  soil  can  be  brought  to 
an  extremely  high  state  of  productivity. 

The  Cecil  clay  loam  covers  about  28  per  cent  of  the  area  of  the 
county.  It  is  one  of  the  two  most  valuable  soil  types  to  be  found 
in  the  Piedmont  province.  This  soil  is  usually  called  "red  land,"  con-, 
sisting  typically  of  a  red  or  brown  loam  or  clay  to  a  depth  of  5  to  7 
inches.  The  texture  of  this  soil  has  a  wide  range;  in  some  portions 
it  is  sandy  and  friable,  and  in  others  it  is  a  tough,  stiff  red  clay. 

The  Cecil  clay  loam  when  plowed  under  proper  moisture  conditions 
is  easily  handled,  otherwise  the  soil  will  clod  and  bake.  The  areas 
which  contain  the  largest  amount  of  sand  are  more  friable  and  the  soil 
works  up  into  a  better  tilth  and  is  more  easily  handled  than  in  the 
heavier  areas. 

The  Cecil  clay  loam  is  particularly  adapted  to  the  production  of 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  clover,  grasses,  and  cowpeas.  It  is  also  good  for 
cotton,  but  this  crop  does  not  mature  here  as  easily  as  on  the  Cecil 
sandy  loam.  Where  good  methods  of  cultivation  are  used  and  an  early 
maturing  variety  is  planted,  yields  of  one  bale  to  the  acre  are  common, 
though  the  average  production  is  below  this  amount.  Corn  yields 
from  12  to  86  bushels  per  acre  on  this  soil,  high  yields  being  secured 
by  proper  methods  of  farming.  "Wheat  fills  out  well,  and  yields  of 
25  bushels  per  acre  are  common;  but  the  average  is  below  this,  about 
18  bushels.  Oats  yield  on  it  from  20  to  60  bushels,  and  cowpeas  1 
to  2  tons  of  hay  or  20  to  30  bushels  of  shelled  peas  per  acre.  Clover, 
both  crimson  and  red,  and  orchard  grass  do  well  on  this  soil,  and 
cabbage,   turnips,    apples,   cherries,   and   pears   give   good    returns. 

Better  Farming       » 

There  are  too  many  eroded  or  bald  spots,  "turned  out"  as  they  say, 
in  the  cultivated  fields  of  Gaston.  Most  of  these  unsightly  places 
could  easily  be  reclaimed  and  made  productive  by  applying  coarse 
manures  and  sowing  cowpeas  and  clovers  for  a  few  years.  Plowing 
slightly  deeper  year  by  year,  and  a  better  pulverizing  of  the  seed  bed 
would  give  results  in  increased  production.  This  applies  particularly 
to  the  Cecil  clay,  Cecil  clay  loam,  and  the  heavier  areas  of  the  sandy 
loams.    These  stiff  lands  ought  to  be  loosened  up  and  aerated  in  order 


Gaston   Counti/:  Economic  and  Social  17 

to  give  the  plant  "roots  a  larger  feeding  area  and  to  allow  more  rain- 
fall to  be  absorbed  and  retained,  thus  insuring  more  moisture  during 
dry  seasons.  All  kinds  of  coarse  manures — straw,  leaves,  or  cotton 
bolls — when  turned  under  on  the  clays  are  very  beneficial  in  loosening 
up  the  soil,  and  result  in  marked  improvement  in  the  yields. 

In  this  region  where  the  soils  and  climatic  conditions  favor  the 
growing  of  cowpeas.  clovers,  vetch,  and  rye,  all  the  nitrogen  needed 
for  crops  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  secured  by  growing  these  and 
the  farmers  may  thus  save  a  large  part  of  their  fertilizer  expense. 
If  the  land  has  been  properly  prepared  for  cowpeas  the  stubble  when 
plowed  under  makes  an  excellent  seed  bed  for  wheat.  One  of  the 
main  reasons  why  the  results  with  wheat  are  not  more  satisfactory 
is  the  poor  preparation  of  the  seed  bed. 

A  greater  diversification  and  a  more  systematic  rotation  of  crops 
should  be  practiced  in  order  to  build  up  the  soils  and  increase  the 
yields.  Cotton  has  for  many  years  been  the  favorite  crop,  and  not 
enough  attention  has  been  given  to  corn,  grain,  and  hay  crops.  More 
corn,  hay,  wheat,  and  oats  should  be  produced;  more  pigs  and  cattle 
kept  on  the  farms,  so  that  Gaston  county  could  export  instead  of 
having  to  import  flour,  meat,  hay,  corn,  butter,  and  a  variety  of  other 
foods  and  fe^ds.  The  large  number  of  people  in  the  towns  and  fac- 
tories provide  excellent  markets  for  the  products  of  the  farm,  par- 
ticularly for  such  crops  as  sweet  potatoes,  cabbage,  Irish  potatoes, 
turnips,  beans,  tomatoes,  dairy  products,  and  poultry.  The  soils  of 
Gaston  are  well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  all  these  crops  and  their 
production  in  vast  quantities  would  cause  a  saving  to  the  county  of 
about  two  and  a  third  million  dollars,  the  sum  annually  spent  for 
imported  food  and  feed  supplies.  Or  at  least  this  was  the  bill  for 
imported  food  and  feed  in  the  census  year.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
total  is  around  five  million  to-day,  unless  the  farmers  of  Gaston  have 
greatly  increased  their  food  and  feed  crops  since  1910. 

Sources  of  Information 

Soil  Survey  of  Gaston  County. 

Report  of  the  North  Carolina  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1916. 

Timber  Resources  of  Gaston  County. 

North  Carolina  Geological  and  Economic  Survey. 


Ill 
Gaston  County  Industries 

Cotton  Manufacture 

In  miscellaneous  manufacturing  industries  Gaston  ranks  well.  But 
when  it  comes  to  cotton  manufacture  Gaston  county  leads,  not  only 
in  North  Carolina,  but  in  the  South  and  the  nation — not  in  the 
number  of  spindles  but  in  the  number  of  mills.  She  has  within  her 
borders  90  cotton  mills,  more  mills  than  any  other  county  in  the 
United  States.  She  now  leads  all  the  counties  in  the  South  in  the 
number  of  active  spindles.  Only  three  counties  in  the  entire  United 
States,  Bristol  and  Middlesex  counties,  Massachusetts,  and  Providence 
county,  Rhode  Island,  have  more  active  spindles.  This  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  their  mills  are  on  an  average  larger,  but  Gaston  has  more 
mills.  No  other  county  in  North  Carolina  begins  to  approach  Gaston 
as  a  cotton  mill  center. 

The  textile  business  has  accumulated  enormous  wealth  for  the 
county  for  those  holding  stock  in  these  concerns.  Especially  has  this 
been  true  during  the  past  four  or  five  years. 

Whatever  the  profits,  they  are  large  enough  to  attract  all  the 
capital  needed  in  the  business  and  most  mills  are  selling  stock,  if  it 
can  be  procured  at  all,  away  above  par.  New  concerns  have  no  trouble 
getting  stock  subscribed.  In  fact  stock  in  new  textile  mills  sells 
above  par.  One  mill  recently  organized  sold  stock  at  190  before  a 
brick  was  laid. 

The  latest  figures  we  have  are,  in  part,  for  the  year  1918,  taken 
from  the  Report  of  the  State  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  Printing. 
During  the  following  year  several  new  concerns  have  sprung  up  and 
several  new  plants  are  now  under  construction.  The  capital  stock  of 
many  plants  has  been  increased;  the  raw  cotton  consumed,  the  value 
of  the  yearly  output,  and  the  yearly  payroll  of  almost  all  the  mills 
have  increased.  The  data  of  the  Labor  Commissioner  are  incomplete, 
because  the  mill  owners  neglect  or  refuse  to  supply  the  information 
called  for.  However,  we  have  at  hand  data  supplied  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Gastonia  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Gastonia  Gazette. 

The  Gastonia  Gazette  has  recently  published  a  complete  list  of  the 
cotton  mills  of  the  county.  They  did  this  to  correct  the  current  false 
impression  that  there  are  100  mills  in  the  county.  A  strict  count 
revealed  the  fact  that  there  were  84.  Recently  six  new  corporations 
have  been  organized,  bringing  the  total  up  to  90.  These  90  mills 
are  owned  by  77  corporations,  and  the  list,  with  combined  spindleage, 
is  published  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  19 

Forty-one  of  these  mills  are  found  in  Gastonia,  which  is  by  far  the 
biggest  textile  center  in  the  state. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  Printing  for  the  year 
1918  gives  more  or  less  accurate  information  about  56  corporations 
which  own  69  of  the  90  mills  in  Gaston,  or  just  about  three-quarters 
of  the  total  number.  Twenty-one  new  corporations  own  the  remain- 
ing 21  mills.  Assuming  that  the  remaining  21  mills  are  average 
mills,  the  reader  can  gain  for  himself  a  fairly  accurate  idea  of  totals 
for  the  90  mills  in  operation  or  organized  in  January,   1920. 

Fifty-five  cotton  mills  in  1918  had  a  capital  stock  of  $11,044,200. 
In  January,  1920,  with  8  mills  unreported  the  capital  stock  is  $25,151,- 
126.     Thus  the  total  capital  stock  of  the  90  mills  is  about  $27,500,000. 

Forty-eight  corporations  owning  two-thirds  of  the  mills  report  22,975 
horsepower,  an  average  of  almost  500  horsepower  for  each  corpora- 
tion or  about  35,000  horsepower  for  the  90  mills.  Forty-eight  corpora- 
tions in  1918  used  raw  material  valued  at  $43,676,000  making  it  fair 
to  assume  that  the  77  corporations  now  operating  or  organized  use 
raw  cotton  valued  at  about  70  million  dollars  annually.  Seventy-two 
of  the  84  mills  in  1919  used  raw  material  valued  at  55  million  dollars. 
The  estimated  value  of  the  1918  output  of  these  48  corporations  was 
$28,321,000  or  almost  exactly  40  million  dollars  for  the  84  mills  in 
1919.  The  56  mills  had  699,454  active  spindles  giving  a  total  of  more 
than  a  million  spindles  for  the  90  mills  now  in  the  county.  This  is 
substantiated  by  figures  just  compiled  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
A  strict  count  revealed  the  fact  that  there  are  1,012,696  spindles  in 
the  county. 

The  pay  roll  in  1919  with  a  dozen  unreported,  was  $4,000,000. 

Knitting"  Mills 

Four  knitting  mills  in  the  county  in  1918  reported  a  total  capital 
stock  of  $72,600  with  an  estimated  yearly  output  of  $400,000.  These 
four  mills  had  154  knitting  machines  installed. 

Gaston  has  within  her  limits  one-sixth  of  all  the  cotton  mills  of 
the  state,  one-sixth  of  the  capital  stock,  and  one-sixth  of  all  active 
spindles.  She  made  rapid  progress  during  the  two-year  period  1916-18. 
In  1916  she  had  one-seventh  of  the  cotton  mills,  one-ninth  of  the  capital 
stock,  and  one-ninth  of  the  active  spindles.  Since  1918  twenty-one  cor- 
porations have  built  or  organized  21  mills. 

Not  only  this,  but  Gaston  people  own  big  mills  in  other  counties 
of  this  state  and  in  South  Carolina.  This  is  especially  true  of  Messrs. 
Cannon,  Armstrong,  A.  K.  and  H.  G.  YVinget,  J.  H.  Separk,  Lineberger 
and  Stowe,  and  the  late  George  A.  Gray.  Mill  stock  in  all  of  the 
county  mills  is  pretty  well  disseminated  throughout  Gaston  county. 

The  mill  owners  are  coming  more  and  more  to  consider  the  mill 
workers  as  part  of  their  tangible  assets.     They  are  providing   good 


20  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

schools  and  are  insisting  on  the  children's  attending  school.  They  are 
providing  better  health  conditions,  nurses  for  the  mill  women  and 
children,  recreation  grounds,  and  better  moral  surroundings. 

The  mill  operatives  of  Gaston  are  as  well  paid  as  any  in  the  state. 
The  daily  wages  of  the  highest-paid  men  range  from  $3  to  $6.50;  of 
the  lowest-paid  men  from  $3  to  $1.50  per  day.  The  highest  wages 
paid  to  women  range  from  $1.50  to  $4  a  day;  and  the  lowest,  from 
$1  to  $2  per  day.  This  was  in  1918.  The  wages  are  higher  in  all  the 
mills  at  the  present  time. 

The  56  companies  owning  69  mills  in  the  county  in  1918  employed 
8,339  operatives.  It  is  estimated  that  21,000  people,  the  employes 
and  their  families,  were  dependent  on  the  mills  for  support.  Taking 
that  as  an  average,  the  90  mills  in  the  county  in  1920  will  employ 
11,000  persons  and  27,000  people  will  be  directly  dependent  on  the 
mills  for  support. 

Gastonia  is  the  textile  center  of  the  state.  Forty-one  of  the  84  mills 
operating  are  located  in  Gastonia,  and  as  the  average  mill  in  Gastonia 
is  larger  than  the  average  in  the  rest  of  the  county,  it  is  fair  to  assume 
that  Gastonia  has  within  her  limits  one-half  the  capital  stock,  one- 
half  the  spindles,  looms  and  cards,  uses  half  the  raw  material  and 
turns  out  half  of  the  finished  products  of  the  county.  Also  that  half 
the  people  dependent  on  the  mills  for  support,  or  about  14,000,  live  in 
Gastonia.  This  population  alone  makes  a  small  city,  and  this  fact 
serves  to  emphasize  the  overshadowing  importance  of  the  textile 
business  in  Gastonia. 

Big  31111  Concerns 

Lineberger-Stowe  Mills 

"From  its  premier  position  among  the  pioneer  cotton  mill  builders 
of  Gaston  county,  the  Lineberger-Stowe  corporation  at  Belmont  has 
never  been  displaced,  and  to-day  it  holds  first  rank  in  the  county  in 
number  of  spindles  operated  and  capital  stock  invested.  From  the 
organization  of  the  Chronicle  Mill  in  1901  with  a  capital  stock  of 
only  $100,000  and  R.  L.  Stowe  as  chief  promoter,  the  mill  business 
at  Belmont  has  grown  to  the  magnificent  total  of  eleven  mills  in  Bel- 
mont alone,  representing  approximately  145,000  spindles  and  an  author- 
ized capital  stock  of  $7,000,000.  Soon  after  the  Chronicle  Mill  was 
built  came  the  Imperial  and  Majestic;  and  Mr.  A.  C.  Lineberger,  one 
of  the  foremost  cotton  mill  authorities  in  the  South,  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  Belmont  mills  as  president." 

"Mr.  Lineberger  is  president  of  the  Rowan  Mills  at  Salisbury,  a 
concern  with  10,000  spindles  and  $600,000  capital,  and  is  interested  in 
the  Vance  Mills  at  Salisbury  and  Superior  Yarn  Mills  at  Statesville." 

"The  growth  of  the  mill  business  in  Gaston  has  been  truly  magical 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  21 

and  the  rise  of  the  men  connected  therewith  has  been  equally  as  won- 
derful. For  instance,  a  few  days  ago  there  were  organized  in  the 
town  of  Belmont  within  the  space  of  36  hours  three  new  cotton  mills 
with  a  combined  capital  stock  of  $3,800,000.  Listed  on  the  board  of 
directors  of  these  mills  are  men  who,  twenty  years  ago,  were  nothing 
more  than  doffers  and  ordinary  helpers  in  the  first  mills  built  here- 
abouts. Such  facts  as  these  are  illustrative  and  typical  of  the  cotton 
mills  of  Belmont.  All  the  superintendents  have  risen  from  a  low 
place  in  the  ranks  to  positions  commanding  annual  salaries  of  $4,000 
and  $5,000." 

"All  the  mills  at  Belmont  manufacture  fine  yarns,  the  managers 
being  among  the  first  in  this  section  to  recognize  the  difference  in 
the  selling  power  of  fine  and  coarse  yarns." 

The  Armstrong  Mills 

"The  story  of  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  Armstrong  chain 
of  cotton  mills  in  Gastonia  and  surrounding  counties  starts  with  the 
modest  beginning  in  1907  of  the  Clara  Armstrong  Company  with  a 
$200,000  capital  stock  and  10,000  spindles.  To-day  the  corporation 
has  a  combined  capital  stock  of  $4,041,000,  and  119,600  active  spindles. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  marvelous  of  the  many  wonderful  fairy-like 
stories  of  the  textile  industry  in  Gaston  county.  From  one  mill  in 
1907,  the  industry  headed  by  Col.  C.  B.  Armstrong,  A.  K.  Winget  and 
others,  has  grown  to  13  mills  in  1920.  On  an  average  a  new  mill  has 
been  added  every  year." 

"The  rapid  rise  to  unparalleled  heights  in  cotton  manufacture  has 
been  due  to  the  wonderful  insight  into  the  future  coupled  with  busi- 
ness skill  and  foresight  possessed  by  few  captains  of  industry,  notably 
Col.  C.  B.  Armstrong  and  his  able  lieutenant,  Mr.  A.  K.  Winget." 

"The  Clara  Mill  was  built  in  1907  at  a  cost  of  $200,000.  It  has 
10,000  spindles.  Late  in  1919,  the  Mildred  was  organized  with  20,000 
spindles.  It  will  cost  $1,200,000.  These  figures  give  some  idea  of  the 
difference  in  cost  13  years  ago  and  now." 

The  Separk-Gray  Mills 

"As  a  monument  to  the  industry  and  far-seeing  vision  of  the  late 
Geo.  A.  Gray,  generally  recognized  as  the  founder  of  the  cotton  mill 
industry  in  Gaston  county,  there  are  in  active  operation  to-day.  hum- 
ming and  spinning  their  song  of  industry  and  contentment.  104,082 
spindles  in  six  cotton  mills,  the  Gray,  Arrow,  Parkdale,  Myrtle.  Arling- 
ton, and  Flint.  These  mills  represent  at  present  an  authorized  capital 
of  $3,650,000.     Contemplated   changes   will  increase  this  to   $4,400,000. 

"The  history  of  the  Separk-Gray  interests  has  been  one  of  continual 
growth  and  expansion.     There  has  been  a  policy  of  sane,  safe  building 


22  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

under  favorable  conditions,  and  wise  investments  in  holdings  already 
under  construction.  As  illustrative  of  this  last  policy,  two  years  ago 
the  Arlington  and  Flint,  two  of  the  best  mills  in  the  South,  were 
taken  over  by  the  Separk-Gray  interests." 

"One  of  the  outstanding  policies  of  the  Separk-Gray  Mills  is  welfare 
work  for  the  employes  of  the  mills.  This  work  has  been  developed 
to  a  high  state  of  perfection.  This  policy  was  fully  vindicated  during 
the  recent  epidemic  of  influenza  when  the  two  community  workers, 
Misses  Pickens  and  Potts,  were  on  duty  day  and  night,  and  succeeded 
in  alleviating  and  checking  the  ravages  of  the  disease.  Miss  Potts, 
the  head  of  the  work,  is  a  graduate  nurse  and  has  had  a  rich  and 
varied  experience,  having  served  with  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces  as  a  member  of  the  Army  Nurse  Corps." 

The  Lokay  Mill 

"The  Loray  Mill  itself  is  a  good  sized  show.  When  it  was  built 
20  years  ago  it  was  one  of  the  largest  mill  buildings  in  the  Southern 
states.  In  fact  the  claim  was  made  for  it  then  that  it  was  the  largest 
textile  plant  under  one  roof  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line.  It 
is  five  stories  high,  exclusive  of  the  basement.  Capitalized  at  $1,500,- 
000  the  Loray  was  a  giant  enterprise  in  the  textile  industry.  It  is  a 
much  larger  concern  now.  It  has  recently  been  converted  into  a  yarn 
mill  alone,  manufacturing  automobile  tire  fabrics.  Within  the  last 
few  months  the  weaving  has  been  discontinued  and  the  looms  sold. 
The  57,000  spindles  are  being  increased  to  90,000.  Under  the  old 
regime  550  people  were  employed.  There  are  now  850  employed  and 
when  the  installations  of  machinery  are  complete  the  number  will 
be  1,400." 

"The  owners  of  the  Loray  Mills  are  spen.ding,  all  told,  somewhere 
around  a  million  dollars  in  improvements  and  enlargements  in  and 
around  their  plant.  Of  this  total  more  than  half  is  going  into  new 
buildings,  including  150  of  the  best  constructed,  most  convenient  and 
withal  most  attractive  bungalows  for  their  operatives  that  can  be 
found  in  any  manufacturing  town  in  the  country.  These  houses  of 
four,  five,  and  six  rooms,  are  costing  $2,000  and  up  and  are  not  lacking 
in  modern  conveniences.  In  the  150  homes  are  to  be  found  several 
types  of  architecture.  In  addition  to  these  homes  for  operatives,  two 
large  dormitories,  one  for  men  and  the  other  for  women,  with  a  large 
cafeteria  between,  are  being  erected  at  a  cost  of  considerably  more 
than  $100,000." 

"Each  dormitory  has  23  bed  rooms  besides  matrons'  rooms,  reception 
rooms  and  halls.  They  are  of  brick  veneer  construction,  a  dark  red 
tapestry  brick  being  used.  Each  building  is  thoroughly  equipped  with 
baths,  writing  rooms,  etc.     In  the  basement  of  the  men's   dormitory 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  23 

will  be  a  bowling  alley,  a  pool  room,  and  probably  a  barber  shop,  to 
say  nothing  of  shower  baths  and  locker  rooms." 

Occupying  a  position  midway  between  the  two  dormitories  is 
a  cafeteria  which  will  be  the  most  up-to-date  establishment  of  its  kind 
between  Washington  and  Atlanta.  The  main  dining  room  is  85  by 
36  feet.  The  furnishings  alone  will  cost  $15,000.  This  cafeteria  will 
be  run  by  the  Waldorf  System  and  will  feed  the  1,400  operatives  in 
an  hour. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  the  Loray  Community  House  which  has 
been  greatly  enlarged  and  improved  during  the  past  year.  This  build- 
ing is  proving  not  only  a  great  convenience  for  the  operatives  but  is 
coming  to  have  a  great  influence  in  their  lives  in  the  way  of  increased 
interest  in  educational  and  civic  matters.  Household  management 
and  sewing  are  taught  here.  The  day  nursery  affords  a  splendid 
place  for  the  care  of  infants  while  their  mothers  are  in  the  mill  or 
at  their  household  duties. 

Recently  a  laundry  has  been  established  for  the  use  of  the  mill 
operatives.  It  is  equipped  with  modern  machinery  and  is  under  the 
care  of  a  superintendent  and  15  assistants.  Though  it  has  been  run- 
ning only  a  few  weeks  it  is  being  liberally  patronized  by  the  workers. 

The  Rankin  Mills 

"While  their  figures  as  to  number  of  spindles  and  capital  stock 
are  not  so  pretentious  as  those  of  some  of  their  neighbors,  the  Rankin 
chain  of  mills,  the  Osceola,  Hanover,  and  Mountain  View,  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  W.  T.  Rankin  interests,  and  the  Pinkney,  Rankin, 
and  Ridge  Mills,  owned  and  controlled  by  R.  Grady  Rankin  interests, 
is  one  of  the  most  successfully  operated  and  cleanly  managed  chain 
of  mills  in  the  county.  The  combined  spindleage  of  the  Osceola, 
Hanover,  and  Mountain  View  is  20,000  with  a  capital  stock  of  $415,000. 

"Not  since  the  Osceola  was  built  in  1916  has  it  lost  a  working  hour, 
night  or  day,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  Hanover.  The  Pinkney, 
Rankin,  and  Ridge  Mills  represent  a  capital  stock  of  $675,000  with  a 
spindleage  of  22,500." 

"Mr.  W.  T.  Rankin  originated  the  idea  of  sharing  with  the  em- 
ployes the  profits  from  his  mills.  About  a  year  ago  he  returned  from 
Europe  where  he  visited  the  manufacturing  centers  of  France  and 
Belgium.  This  trip  impressed  upon  him  the  necessity  of  closer  co- 
operation between  employer  and  employe  and  he,  together  with 
several  other  corporations,  inaugurated  a  profit-sharing  plan.  As  a 
result  there  was  paid  out  during  the  last  six  months  of  1919  a  sum 
of  $56,000  to  employes  representing  10  per  cent  of  all  the  spindles 
in  the  county.     Other  corporations  are  folllowing  this  example." 


24  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Miscellaneous  Factories 

Besides  cotton  and  knitting  mills  there  were  23  other  miscellane- 
ous concerns  reported  in  Gaston  in  1918.  These  23  concerns  had  a 
combined  capital  stock  of  $147,955.  Leaving  out  of  account  the  Coca- 
Cola  Bottling  Company  of  Gastonia,  the  other  22  concerns  had  plants 
valued  at  $154,332;  with  an  estimated  yearly  output  of  $685,565,  and 
a  pay  roll  of  $374,000.  These  concerns  are  grouped  and  listed,  together 
with  important  information  concerning  them,  at  the  end  of  this 
chapter. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  25 

COTTON  MILL  CORPORATIONS  IN  1919 


Seventy-seven  Corporations  Owning  90  Mills 


GASTONTA. 

SPINDLES 

Loray  Mills ..90,000 

Arlington  Cotton  Mills 25,352 

Rex  Spinning  Company 25,000 

Priscilla  Spinning  Company 25,000 

Flint  Manufacturing  Co 23 ,  C-10 

Ozark  Mills 20.0C0 

Victory  Yarn  Mills 20,000 

Mildred  Cotton  Mills ....20,000 

Gray  Manufacturing  Co IS, COO 

Modena  Cotton  Mills 17,536 

Parkdale  Mills,  Inc _.. 15,360 

Groves  Mills,  Inc. ..15,000 

Seminole  Cotton  Mills 13,000 

Gastonia  Cotton  Mfg.  Co 12.50C 

Myers  Mills 11,592 

Dunn  Mfg.  Co 10,500 

A.  M.  Smyre  Mfg.  Co 10,336 

Avon  Mills 1C,080 

Myrtle  Mills,  Inc 10,240 

Osceola  Mills __10,000 

Pinkney  Mills,  Inc 10,000 

Clara  Mfg.  Co 9,800 

Trenton  Cotton  Mills 8,448 

The  Shuford  Mills 8,000 

Winget  Yarn  Mills .  S.0C0 

Spencer  Mountain  Mills 7,072 

Dixon  Mills 6,144 

Mutual  Cotton  Mills 6.5CC 

Ridge  Mills. 6,500 

Ranlo  Mfg.  Co 6,048 

Ruby  Mills 6,000 

Adams-Spencer  Mills 6,000 

Rankin  Mills 6,000 

Hanover  Thread  Mills 5,000 

Mountain  View  Mills 5,000 

Armstrong  Cotton  Mills,  Inc 4,500 

Piedmont  Spinning  Co.. 2,500 

BELMONT. 

Climax  Spinning  Co 21,760 

Stowe  Spinning  Co 20, COO 

Acme  Mills 16,  COO 

National  Yarn  Mills 15,232 

Crescent  Yarn  Mills 13,056 

Sterling  Mfg.  Co 13,056 

Majestic  Mfg.  Co 12,768 

Imperial  Yarn  Mills 12,500 

Chronicle  Mill 10,276 

Perfection  Spinning  Co 10,000 

Linford  Mills,  Inc 10.CC0 

Stowe-Puett  Mills 10,  COO 


MOUNT  HOLLY. 

SPINDLES 

Adrian  Mfg.  Co.... 13,056 

Woodlawn  Mfg.  Co 10,080 

Catawba  Spinning  Co.. 10,000 

Nims  Mfg.  Co 8,100 

Tuckaseege  Mfg.  Co 5,696 

Globe  Mills 5,040 

Alsace  Cotton  Mills 3,568 

DALLAS. 

Monarch  Cotton  Mills  Co... ___  8,400 

Morowebb  Cotton  Mills  Co. 7,168 

Dorothy  Mfg.  Co. 7,0C0 

CHERRYVILLE. 

Gaston  Mfg.  Co 12,000 

Melville  Mfg.  Co 11,000 

Cherryville  Mfg.  Co 7,536 

Vivian  Cotton  Mills 5,200 

Rhyne-Houser  Mfg.  Co 5,000 

Howell  Mfg.  Co 4,752 

BESSEMER   CITY. 

Osage  Mfg.  Co.. 16,272 

Gambrill  &  Melville  Mills 15,000 

Huss  Mfg.  Co 6,000 

Atlas  Mfg.  Co 4,860 

American  Cotton  Mills 3,600 

LOWELL. 

Lowell  Cotton  Mills 23,500 

Peerless  Mfg.  Co 14,500 

STANLEY. 
Lola  Mfg.  Co 4,160 

McADENVILLE. 
McAden  Mills 28,000 

MAYWORTH. 
Mays  Mills,  Inc 68,000 

HIGH  SHOALS. 
High  Shoals  Mfg.  Co 18,512 

WORTH. 
Harden  Mfg.  Co 8,000 

Total  for  Gaston  County 1,012,690 


26 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 


MISCELLANEOUS  FACTORIES 


FACTORY 


Post  Office 


3mer  Ginning  Co Bessemer  City. 

Southern  Cotton  Oil  Co Gastonia 

Model  Ginning  Co ..Cherryville 

Flemming's  Saw  Mill Gastonia 

Fox  Saw  Mill Stanley 

Henry  Lumber  Co Gastonia 

Morgan  Lumber  Co Cherryville 

Robinson  Saw  Mill Mount  Holly... 

Speneer  Lumber  Co Gastonia 

Styers  Sash  and  Door  Shop Cherryville 

Bludwine  Bottling  Co Gastonia 

Coca-Cola  Bottling  Co.*.. Gastonia.. 

Chero-Cola  Bottling  Co Lowell 

Kendrick  Brick  and  Tile  Co Mount  Holly.  . 

Mo-Ho  Brick  Co Mount  Holly.. 

Beaver  Dam  Roller  Mills Lincolnton 

Cocker  Machinery  Co Gastonia 

Gaston  Iron  Works Gastonia 

Gaston  Mattress  Co Gastonia 

C.  L.  Lawton  (Baritel Bessemer  City. 

Piedmont  Metal  Roofing  Co Dallas 

Riverside  Sand  Co Charlotte 


Capital 
Stock 


$  1,955 
10,000 
2,100 
2,000 

7,000 
25,000 
2,000 
16,000 
5.0C0 
5,000 
3,000 
8,700 
S,0C0 
6,400 
5,000 
20, CC0 


6,300 
4,500 


Value 

of 
Plant 


8,400 
1,000 
1,000 
5,000 
20,000 
2,000 

4,000 

6,706 
563,109 

6,000 
12.0C0 

6,400 

5,000 
36,400 
12,000 

5,000 

6,300 
5,000 


Yearly 
Out- 
put 


$    2,166      %. 


229,000 


2,000 

75,000 

100,000 

3,000 

7,000 
22,000 
,869,725 
25,000 
50,000 
17,500 
15,000 
70,000 
12,000 
25,000 

12,000 
12,000 


Yearly 
Pay 
Roll 


220,000 

5,000 

4,000 

75,000 

1,500 


4,500 

693,299 

3,500 

8,000 

7,000 

800 

25,000 

6,000 

290 

500 
5,000 


*Other  establishments  included. 


Sources  of  Information: 

1918  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  Printing. 

Gastonia  Gazette. 

Gastonia  Chamber  of  Commerce. 


IV 


Facts  About  the  Folks 

At  the  close  of  this  and  subsequent  chapters  will  be  found  tables 
indicating  (1)  certain  fundamental  facts  about  Gaston  county,  (2) 
the  rank  of  the  county  in  each  particular  among  the  hundred  counties 
of  the  state,  and  (3)  the  state  and  national  averages  that  serve  to 
show  how  far  Gaston  is  leading  or  falling  behind  the  state  and  the 
nation.  These  tables  are  based  on  the  latest  reports  of  the  federal 
Census  Bureau  and  refer  to  the  year  1910  unless  otherwise  indicated. 

It  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  only  once  in  every  ten  years  can 
a  county  take  stock  of  itself  in  any  thorough-going  way.  We  know 
from  the  authorities  at  Washington  many  things  about  the  state  year 
by  year,  but  nothing  about  the  counties  of  any  state  except  the 
annual  production  of  cotton  and  recently  of  tobacco.  And  so  only  the 
1920  census  will  reveal  in  detail  just  what  progress  the  county  has 
made  during  the  decade  just  closing. 

Other  sources  of  information  have  been  the  1906  and  1916  Censuses 
of  Religious  Bodies,  the  1914  Census  of  Industries,  the  latest  reports 
of  the  state  departments,  the  University  News  Letter,  and  corre- 
spondence with  local  authorities  in  Gaston. 

Increasing  Population 

One  of  the  most  significant  facts  discovered  concerning  Gaston  is 
that  her  rural  districts  have  more  people  to  the  square  mile  than 
any  other  county  in  the  state,  the  number  being  84.4.  Her  rural 
districts  are  five  times  as  thickly  settled  as  two  or  three  counties  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  state.  And  she  is  still  growing  in  rural  popu- 
lation. Only  two  counties  in  the  state  made  a  greater  increase  in 
rural  population  during  the  decade  from  1900  to  1910.  An  important 
fact  concerning  this  gain  is  that  seven-eighths  of  the  increase  con- 
sisted of  whites.  The  negroes  of  the  county  are  a  decreasing  ratio 
of  the  population.  In  1900  they  were  26  percent  of  the  population, 
but  in  1910  they  were  only  23  percent.  Most  of  the  white  increase 
went  into  the  mill  villages  and  the  people  came  mainly  from  the  sur- 
rounding counties.  Mecklenburg  lost  nearly  12  percent  of  her  country 
population,  a  great  part  of  it  going  over  into  Gaston  to  work  in  the 
cotton  mills,  of  which  Gaston  has  a  greater  number  than  any  other 
county  in  the  South. 

The   census    reports    show    the    marked    effect    this    increasing    mill 


28  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

population  has  had  on  the  level  of  general  intelligence,  due  to  lack 
of  effective  labor  laws  before  the  1910  census  was  compiled.  Children 
of  almost  any  age  were  allowed  to  remain  out  of  school  in  order  to 
work  in  the  mills.  If  the  present  laws  are  enforced,  and  we  have 
no  doubt  they  will  be,  the  next  census  will  show  a  much  higher 
educational  status. 

In  1910,  fourteen  and  a  half  percent  of  all  the  white  people  of  the 
county  10  years  old  and  over  could  neither  read  nor  write.  There 
were  69  counties  in  the  state  that  had  a  smaller  percent  of  white 
illiterates  than  Gaston.  These  were  sheer-illiterates.  How  many  near- 
illiterates  there  were  in  the  county  no  one  knows,  but  in  Gaston  just 
as  in  all  other  counties  they  far  outnumber  the  sheer-illiterates.  Peo- 
ple who  can  barely  read  or  write  are  in  almost  as  bad  condition  as 
those  who  do  not  know  their  letters  at  all. 

The  native  white  illiterate  voters  numbered  879  and  were  14  per- 
cent of  the  total  white  voters.  In  most  counties  of  the  state  in  1910 
illiterates  of  voting  age  were  a  larger  percent  of  the  total  population 
than  were  illiterates  under  21  years  of  age;  but  not  so  in  Gaston. 
Fathers  who  can  read  and  write  have  evidently  allowed  their  children 
to  stay  out,  or  have  kept  them  out,  of  school  to  work  in  mills  or  at 
other  trades.  Usually  mill  owners  are  more  desirous  of  complying 
with  labor  laws  and  more  interested  in  school  and  school  attendance 
than  parents  in  a  village  of  mill  operatives.  This  is  a  good  spirit  on 
part  of  mill  owners,  and  parents  who  think  of  their  children  as  wage 
earners  merely  should  be  forced  to  comply  with  mill  and  school  laws. 

Gaston  also  ranked  below  the  state  average  in  white  school  attend- 
ance. Only  72.7  percent  of  the  children  6  to  14  years  of  age  attended 
school  in  1910,  and  in  1914  only  67.9  percent  of  those  enrolled  were 
in  average  attendance.  Gaston  should  not  be  willing  for  72  counties 
in  the  state  to  have  a  larger  percent  of  their  school  children  in  regu- 
lar attendance.  As  long  as  this  condition  lasts,  all  efforts  to  reduce 
the  percent  of  illiteracy  will  be  in  vain. 

A  Big  Church  Problem 

Church  as  well  as  school  authorities  should  be  active  in  curing  this 
fundamental  social  ill.  The  problem  calls  for  religious  as  well  as 
educational  fire  and  fervor.  Most  of  the  illiterates  above  20  years  of 
age,  here  as  elsewhere  in  North  Carolina,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  day 
schools.  If  they  are  ever  to  rise  out  of  sheer  illiteracy  they  must  be 
taught  in  night  schools  that  represent  the  efforts  of  religious  workers. 

Churches  have  been  slow  to  recognize  this  important  home  mission 
task.  They  could  be,  if  willing  and  anxious,  a  mighty  force  in  redu- 
cing illiteracy  in  Gaston  as  well  as  in  the  South  generally,  where  nearly 
two-thirds  of  all  the  white  illiterates  of  the  United  States  are  massed. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  29 

The  cure  of  adult  illiteracy  is  the  fundamental  home  mission  task  in 
North  Carolina  and  the  South.  It  is  more  a  church  problem  than  a 
civic  or  secular  problem.  But  if  the  church  attempts  to  solve  this 
problem,  she  must  approach  it  with  exceeding  care.  These  people 
do  not  like  to  be  reminded  of  their  shortcomings,  and  to  make  them 
realize  the  need  of  education  requires  the  greatest  skill  on  the  part 
of  workers. 

It  is  fundamentally  a  religious  problem  because  illiterates  tend  to 
stay  away  from  churches.  Fifty-four  percent  of  illiterates  and  sheer 
illiterates  in  three  southern  communities  have  been  found  to  be 
habitually  absent  from  church  services,  and  this  ratio  is  probably 
true  of  all  our  communities.  They  are  ashamed  to  go  because,  as 
they  commonly  say,  they  cannot  pick  up  a  song  book  and  sing  with 
the  rest,  and  rather  than  display  their  ignorance  they  prefer  to  stay 
at  home. 

The  church  must  either  destroy  illiteracy  or  illiteracy  will  destroy 
the  country  church  in  the  South. 

Church  Membership 

That  illiteracy  is  directly  related  to  church  membership  is  borne 
out  by  the  fact  that  12,135  people  over  10  years  of  age  in  Gaston  in 
1906  belonged  to  no  church  whatever.  The  non-church  members  were 
45  percent  of  the  population  over  10  years  of  age,  and  61  counties  in 
the  state  made  a  better  showing.  This  is  further  evidence  that  the 
fundamental  home  mission  problem  is  the  cure  of  illiteracy.  In  1916 
the  non-church  members  numbered  12,938  and  were  42  percent  of  the 
population  over  10  years  of  age.  Church  membership  ratios  are  low, 
(1)  in  sparsely  settled  areas  afflicted  by  social  isolation,  (2)  in  areas 
of  excessive  illiteracy  and  near-illiteracy,  (3)  in  areas  of  excessive 
farm  tenancy,  and  (4)  in  trade  and  factory  centers  where  home  owner- 
ship ratios  are  low. 

Pauperism 

Gaston  leads  the  state  in  the  number  of  cotton  mills  and  in  the 
ratio  of  mill  hands  to  total  population.  Massachusetts  holds  the  same 
pre-eminence  among  the  New  England  states;  with  this  difference — 
the  almshouse  paupers  in  Massachusetts  number  447  per  hundred  thou- 
sand population,  while  in  Gaston  county  the  rate  is  only  84.  Which 
is  to  say  pauperism  in  Massachusetts  is  relatively  more  than  five  times 
the  pauperism   in  Gaston  county,   North  Carolina. 

After  all  is  said,  it  is  true  that  the  wages  of  mill  hands  in  Gaston 
are  better  than  in  Massachusetts;  the  cost  of  living  is  less,  mill  village 
conditions  are  wholesomer;  the  operatives  are  better  housed,  clothed, 
and  nourished;  they  are  a  superior  type  of  civilization;  they  are  more 


30  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

law-abiding  and  more  self-respecting;  they  have  a  better  chance  to 
save  money  out  of  their  wages,  and  they  have  money  enough  laid  up 
against  a  rainy  day  to  invest  liberally  in  the  capital  stock  of  new 
cotton  mills  that  are  now  being  organized.  Conditions  can  be  still 
better  in  Gaston,  but  from  any  angle  of  consideration  they  are  better 
even  now  than  in  Lawrence  or  Lowell,  Massachusetts. 

Facts  About  the  Folks 

The  following  facts  are  based  on  the  1910  census  except  where 
indicated.  Rank  indicates  the  number  of  counties  making  a  better 
showing. 

In  the  census  year,  Gaston  with  236,800  acres  of  land  was  71st 
in  size  in  North  Carolina;  9th  in  population  with  37,063  inhabitants; 
and  1st  in  density  of  rural  population  with  84.4  people  to  the  square 
mile.  Gaston  ranked  3rd  in  rural  population  increase  during  the  ten- 
year  period  1900-09.     The  increase  was  34.4  percent. 

The  whites  in  Gaston  in  1910  outnumbered  the  negroes  more  than 
three  to  one.  The  negroes  are  a  decreasing  ratio  of  population,  the 
ten-year  decrease  being  3.1  percent. 

Further  social  facts  are  indicated  in  the  following  table: 

70th  in  Native   white    illiterates    10   years   old   and   over,    per- 
cent      14.5 

State  average  12.3   percent;    U.   S.  average  4.2  per- 
cent. 
46th  in  Native    white    illiterate    voters,    879    in    number,    per- 
cent     14 

State    average   14    percent;    U.    S.    average    4.2    per- 
cent. 
73rd  in  White   school   attendance,    6    to   14   years   of  age,    per 

cent    72.7 

White  children  of  these  ages  not  in  school  in  Gaston 
in  1910  numbered  1,682. 
69th  in  Negro   school   attendance,    6   to   14  years   of  age,   per- 
cent       60.9 

Negro  children  of  these  ages  not  in  school,  849. 
54th  in  Marriage  rate  per  1,000  population  15  years  old  and 

over   in   1914 10 

State  average,  10.1;    Pasquotank,  23.6. 
Marriages  in  Gaston,  370. 

22nd  in  Birth  rate  per  1,000  of  population  in  1910 34.8 

Average  for  the  United   States  26.6  in  1913. 
Average  for  Gaston  was  33.4  in  1917.     Average  for 
North  Carolina  31.8  in  1917. 


& 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  31 

80th  in  Death  rate  per  1,000  population,  1914 13.4 

Average  for  United  States  13.5  in  1915. 
Average  for  Gaston  was  15.2  in  1917.     Average  for 
North  Carolina  14.1  in  1917;   died  of  tuberculosis 
47. 

54th  in  Church  membership,  percent,  1916 42 

12,938  people  10  years  of  age  and  older,  outside  the 
church,  or  42  percent  of  the  population  of  these 
ages.  State  average  of  church  membership,  45 
percent. 
49th  in  Homicides,  average  annual  rate  per  100,000  inhab- 
itants,   1910-14    88 

Robeson  last  with  408;   three  counties,  Hyde,  Pam- 
lico, and  Randolph  had  no  homicides  in  1910-14. 
State  average,  95;   United  States  average,  72. 
43rd  in  Blind  inmates  in  North  Carolina  State  School,  in  1914, 

ratio    per    100,000 16 

State  average,  20. 

Total  number  of  inmates  from  Gaston  county,  6. 

21st  in  Suicides  in  1913,  number 1 

Twenty  counties  had  more  than   1.      Two   suicides 
in  Gaston  in  1917. 
36th  in  Outside  paupers  in  1914,  rate  per  100,000  inhabitants..  189 

State  average,  234. 

Total  number  of  outside  paupers,  70. 
36th  in  Paupers  in  almshouse,   1910   census,   rate  per   100,000 

population     84 

State    average,    96;     United     States    average,     190; 

Mass.,    447. 
Total  number  of  almshouse  paupers,  31. 

44th  in  Divorces,  rate  per  100,000  population  in  1916 25.6 

State  average  31.     Transylvania  leads  with  a  rate  of 
119.2  divorces  per  100,000  population. 


V 


Facts  About  Wealth  and  Taxation 

Wealth 

Gaston  ranks  well  above  the  state  average  in  most  particulars  of 
wealth  and  taxation,  as  can  be  seen  in  the  table  that  closes  this 
chapter. 

Gastonia  and  Gaston  county  have  been  advertised  far  and  near  by 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  very  active  body  that  is  now  expanding 
into  county-wide  membership  and  purposes. 

Farm  Prosperity 

We  find  that  Gaston  county  in  the  census  year  had  farm  property 
valued  at  more  than  eight  and  a  half  million  dollars,  and  that  only 
fifteen  counties  in  the  state  had  a  larger  total  wealth  in  farm  prop- 
erties. It  is  a  highly  creditable  total  for  a  county  that  ranked  only 
71st  in  size.  The  popular  impression  is  that  Gaston  is  pre-eminently  a 
manufacturing  county.  She  is,  but  she  is  also  one  of  the  fifteen  most 
important  agricultural  counties  in  the  state.  Her  people  know  that 
farm  prosperity  is  the  basis  of  all  prosperity,  and  however  much  they 
increase  in  manufacture  they  cling  to  the  fundamental  idea  that  their 
ultimate  prosperity  rests  on  agriculture. 

As  proof  of  this,  she  is  one  of  the  few  counties  in  the  state  that 
has  been  willing  to  tax  herself  in  order  to  employ  a  farm  demonstra- 
tion agent  and  also  a  farm  life  school  specialist.  Several  counties 
have  either  one  or  the  other,  but  rarely  have  they  been  willing  to 
afford  both.  The  bankers,  merchants,  and  mill  owners  know  that 
their  business  success  and  development  are  directly  dependent  upon 
a  well  developed  agriculture  in  the  surrounding  farm  regions.  It  is 
these  capitalists  in  particular  that  have  been  working  to  get  the  county 
to  employ  these  two  important  agencies  in  agricultural  regeneration. 

Property  Increases 

During  the  census  period  from  1900  to  1910,  the  increase  in  value 
of  farm  properties  was  165  percent  and  only  16  counties  made  greater 
gains  in  this  particular.  This  is  further  evidence  that  Gaston  does 
not  intend  to  develop  a  one-sided  prosperity. 

Her  increase  in  taxable  property  during  the  ten-year  period  from 
1903  to  1913  was  85  percent  and  only  thirty  counties  made  a  better 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  33 

showing.  The  total  taxable  wealth,  property  actually  listed  on  the 
tax  books  in  1913,  amounted  to  $14,015,566  and  only  11  counties  had 
more.  The  tax  commission  report  for  the  year  1918  shows  that  she 
had  $21,068,775  worth  of  property  listed  on  the  tax  books,  and  only 
7  counties  showed  a  larger  total.  Her  gain  for  the  five-year  period 
was  a  little  over  7  million  dollars,  or  considerably  more  than  one  and 
a  third  million  dollars  each  year.  This  represents  a  per  capita 
increase  in  taxable  property  amounting  to  $33  per  year. 

Country  Wealth 

When  it  comes  to  per  capita  country  wealth  in  1910,  Gaston  does 
not  rank  so  well,  but  many  of  her  mill  population  were  counted  as 
country  population  because  they  were  living  in  towns  and  villages 
of  less  than  2,500  inhabitants.  The  per  capita  wealth  on  this  basis 
was  only  $275,  while  the  state  average  was  $322  and  the  average  for 
Alleghany  was  $560.  Hut  even  Alleghany,  our  richest  farm  county, 
is  poor  when  compared  with  the  average  for  the  United  States  which 
was  $994,  and  with  the  average  for  Iowa  which  was  $3386  per  country 
inhabitant.  Counting  the  farm  population  alone  the  per  capita  coun- 
try wealth  of  Gaston  in  1910  was  only  $410. 

Think  of  it!  The  average  countryman  in  Gaston  county  was  worth 
$410  dollars  in  1910  while  the  average  countryman  in  Iowa  the  same 
year  was  worth  $3386  or  more  than  8  times  as  much.  The  conditions 
that  cause  this  vast  difference  in  per  capita  country  wealth  will  be 
discussed  in  the  chapter  on   the  Local  Market  Problem. 

Tenancy 

One  of  the  fundamental  economic  and  social  disabilities  of  Gaston 
is  the  excess  of  tenant  farmers.  She  is  below  the  state  average  ratio 
of  white  and  colored  farm  owners.  In  1910  only  23  out  of  every  100 
negro  farmers  in  Gaston  owned  the  farms  they  cultivated.  With 
whites  the  conditions  were  better.  Sixty  out  of  every  100  white  farm- 
ers owned  the  farms  they  cultivated.  In  North  Carolina  66  percent 
of  the  white  farmers  own  their  farms.  Gaston  should  set  about  mak- 
ing it  possible  for  a  thrifty,  industrious  tenant  to  rise  into  ownership. 
Agricultural  prosperity  can  never  attain  a  maximum  until  the  farm 
populations  are  a  home-owning,  home-loving,  home-defending  people. 
Tenancy  was  the  only  solution  of  the  land  and  labor  problem  directly 
following  the  Civil  War,  but  it  has  lingered  on  to  become  the  curse 
of  the  South  wherever  the  system  has  rooted  itself  firmly.  The  evils 
arising  from  tenancy  farming  are  obvious  to  all,  and  legislation  should 
assist  in  making  tenancy  a  rapidly  disappearing  social  obstacle  in 
North  Carolina  and  the  South. 


34  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Farm  Mortgages 

In  1910  16  percent  of  all  white  farms  and  28  percent  of  all 
negro  farms  were  covered  by  mortgage.  These  figures  are  below 
the  state  average  for  white  farmers  and  above  for  negro  farmers.  Con- 
ditions sometimes  make  it  absolutely  necessary  for  a  farmer  to  mort- 
gage his  property,  or  a  mortgage  may  mean  capital  borrowed  for 
productive  purposes — more  land  and  better  buildings  and  equipments. 
But  too  often  a  farm  owner  is  willing  to  cover  his  holdings  with 
paper  in  order  to  indulge  in  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  In  recent 
years  many  farmers  have  been  mortgaging  their  farms  in  order  to 
buy  automobiles.  I  know  one  small  automobile  salesman  who  holds 
mortgages  on  more  than  $200,000  worth  of  farm  property  in  a  single 
county  in  this  state.  The  family  which  rides  in  a  motor  car  bought 
with  a  farm  mortgage  is  fast  riding  out  of  farm  ownership  into  farm 
tenancy.  The  tendency  to  mortgage  farms  in  order  to  indulge  in  luxu- 
ries is  less  pronounced  in  Gaston  than  in  a  score  or  more  other  coun- 
ties in  North  Carolina.  The  state  over,  our  investment  in  motor  cars 
is  at  present  5  times  greater  than  the  value  of  our  school  property 
of  every  sort. 

Motor  Cars  and  Koads 

Only  33  counties  had  more  automobiles  in  1918  than  Gaston.  She 
had  a  total  of  1398  cars,  or  nearly  one  for  every  6  families  in  the 
county.  These  cars  were  valued  at  $850,000  while  the  total  value  of 
public  school  property,  city,  town,  and  country  in  1918,  was  only 
$352,000;  which  was  less  than  half  of  the  value  of  her  automobiles. 
In  January  of  this  year,  1920,  Gaston  had  2,162  automobiles  worth 
nearly  2  million  dollars,  placing  an  average  value  of  $900  on  each 
machine. 

Gaston  ranked  well  in  the  percent  of  improved  roads.  Only  nine- 
teen counties  made  a  better  showing.  One  mile  of  road  out  of  every 
three  in  the  county  in  1914  was  either  graded  or  surfaced.  There 
were  155  miles  of  improved  roads,  140  of  which  were  surfaced.  In 
the  state  at  that  time,  only  one  mile  out  of  every  five  was  improved. 

Since  1914  much  work  has  been  done  on  Gaston  roads.  In  January, 
1920,  she  had  250  miles  of  sand-clay  road,  76  miles  of  macadam,  and 
16  miles  of  asphalt.  This  means  that,  for  a  county  the  size  of  Gaston, 
she  has  a  remarkable  mileage  of  good  roads.  The  people  of  Gaston 
recognize  the  economic  and  social  necessity  of  good  roads  and  realize 
that  every  dollar  invested  in  good  roads  is  a  dollar  well  invested. 

Taxation 

Gaston  may  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  she  is  one  of  the  79  counties 
that  pay  more  money  into  the   state   treasury  than   is   received   back 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  35 

in  pensions  and  school  money.  Indeed  there  were  only  18  counties 
in  the  state  in  1914  that  paid  in  a  greater  excess.  Her  clean  contribu- 
tion to  state  support  on  this  basis  was  $20,240.  Eleven  counties,  10 
of  them  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  state,  receive  from  the  state 
treasury  more  than  the  taxes  they  paid   in. 

But  look  what  has  happened  in  Gaston  since  1914!  In  1918  the  rich 
county  of  Gaston  had  fallen  from  18th  place  to  93d  place  and  had  be- 
come a  burden  on  the  state  treasury  to  the  amount  of  $6,334.  That 
is,  she  drew  out  of  the  state  treasury  in  pensions  and  school  funds 
$6,334  more  than  she  paid  into  the  treasury.  The  fact  that  the  rich 
county  of  Gaston  is  a  dependent  child  of  the  state  passes  our  under- 
standing. It  is  a  matter  well  worth  the  consideration  of  everyone  in 
Gaston  county. 

The  tax  rate,  state  and  county,  on  the  $100  in  1914  in  Gaston  county 
was  $1.03.  The  combined  rate  was  greater  in  44  counties.  In  1917 
it  was  $1.10,  and  only  32  counties  were  willing  to  bear  a  heavier  bur- 
den. In  almost  every  instance  the  heavier  rates  were  made  necessary 
because  their  lands  and  other  properties  were  listed  at  a  good  deal 
less  than  their  actual  value.  Looked  at  in  this  light,  Gaston  does  not 
lag  so  far  behind.  A  low  rate  on  property  listed  at  its  true  value  is 
preferable  to  a  high  rate  on  property  listed  at  minimum  values,  as  in 
most  counties  of  the  state.  This  is  the  philosophy  embodied  in  the 
recent  Revaluation  Act. 

Willingness  to  support  schools  is  shown  by  the  material  increase 
in  local  school  tax  rates  on  the  $1000  worth  of  assessed  values.  A 
progressive  county  like  Gaston  should  not  be  willing  for  61  counties 
in  the  state  to  have  higher  local  school  tax  rates.  There  are  too  few 
local  tax  districts  in  Gaston.  Not  even  in  Gaston  do  the  teachers 
receive  the  salaries  they  deserve  and  the  only  way  to  pay  them  prop- 
erly for  the  services  they  render  is  to  increase  the  local  school  tax 
rates.  The  rate  in  Gaston  was  only  $4.80  on  the  $1000  assessed  valua- 
tion in  1913-14.  Pamlico,  a  rather  poor  county,  led  the  state  with 
a  local  school  tax  rate  of  $8.98.  The  local  school  tax  rate  in  Gaston, 
county  and  local,  was  $5.04  on  the  $1000  of  taxables  in  1918. 

In  state  income  taxes  paid  in  1917,  Gaston  ranked  8th  among  the 
counties  of  the  state.  Nine  counties  paid  no  state  income  tax  in  1917. 
The  total  income  taxes  paid  by  prosperous  people  in  Gaston  in  1917 
were  $2417.  Only  nine  counties  paid  more  income  taxes  in  1915.  Pro- 
fessional taxes  paid  by  62  lawyers,  doctors,  dentists,  photographers, 
and  the  like  in  the  county  amounted  to  $310  in  1914;  in  1917,  83 
professional  men  paid  privilege  taxes  amounting  to  $418. 

The  wealthy  mill  owners  of  Gaston  paid  federal  taxes  on  incomes 
and  excess  profits  amounting  to  5  million  dollars  in  1919.  A  princely 
sum. 


36  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Banks 

In  1914  Gaston  had  10  banks,  or  one  for  every  4004  people,  ranking 
23rd  in  this  respect.  These  banks  had  a  total  capital  in  1915  of 
$325,500,  and  resources  amounting  to  $2,689,000.  The  total  loans  and 
discounts  in  Gaston  for  1915  amounted  to  $1,888,519;  the  three  national 
banks  loaned  and  discounted  $1,486,028  of  this  amount. 

In  1915  the  per  capita  bank  capital  of  Gaston  was  $7.12  and  thirty- 
one  counties  made  a  better  showing;  the  per  capita  bank  resources 
were  $64.20  and  only  19  counties  had  more;  while  the  per  capita  bank 
loans  and  discounts  amounted  to  $43.70  and  only  eight  counties  did 
a  larger  per  capita  business  in  loans  and  discounts  on  the  capital 
invested.  Manifestly  at  this  time  Gaston  like  Forsyth  was  deficient 
in  local  banking  facilities,  in  capital,  resources,  loans  and  discounts. 
There  is  room  in  both  counties  for  immense  expansion  in  the  banking- 
facilities  and  business. 

In  1917  the  banks  of  Gaston  had  a  combined  bank  stock  amounting 
to  $312,155  and  only  18  counties  had  more.  These  were  all  counties 
with  large  towns  with  big  trade  and  manufacturing  interests. 

War  Thrift 

Gaston  responded  nobly  to  the  appeals  of  our  government  during  the 
World  War.  She  invested  $80  per  inhabitant  in  Liberty  Bonds  and 
War  Savings  Stamps,  making  a  total  investment  of  $3,729,358.  Her 
thrifty  citizens  had  laid  up  against  a  rainy  day  bank  account  savings 
in  1918  amounting  to  $1,006,659,  and  only  12  counties  had  larger  totals. 
These  bank  account  savings  averaged  $22  per  inhabitant,  counting 
men,  women  and  children  of  both  races. 

Facts  About  Wealth  and  Taxation 

16th  in  Total   farm  wealth,   1910   census $8,628,686 

17th  in  Farm  wealth  increase,  1900  to  1910,  percent 165 

State  average  increase,   130.5  percent. 
31st  in  Increase  in  value  of  domestic  animals,  1900-10,  per- 
cent      118 

State  average  increase,  109  percent;  Robeson,  200 
percent. 

8th  in  Total    taxable   property   in    1917 $21,068,775 

Mecklenburg  leads  with  $38,972,780. 

31st  in  Increase  in  taxable  property,  1903-13,  percent 85 

State  increase,  81  percent.  State  average  in- 
crease, whites,  69  percent;  negroes,  137  percent. 
Ten-year  increase  in  Gaston,  1907-17,  was  95 
percent.  Land  values  increased  in  Gaston, 
1900-10,   188  percent. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  37 

47th  in  Per  capita  country  wealth,  1910 $275 

Alleghany,  $560;  State,  $322;  U.  S.,  $994;  Iowa, 
$3386.  In  1913  in  Gaston  the  per  capita  taxable 
wealth  was  $394.  White  per  capita  taxable 
wealth  in  1910  was  $321,  and  negro  per  capita 
taxable  wealth  was  $20.70. 
79th  in  Negro  farm  owners,  percent  of  all  negro  farmers.  .  23 

State  average  33  percent.     Negro  farm  owners  in 
Gaston  numbered  178.     White  farm  owners   in 
Gaston  are  60  percent  of  all  white  farmers;   in 
North  Carolina  66  percent. 
33rd  in  Tax  rate  on  the  $100,  state  and  county  in  1917....  $1.10 

Forty-three  counties  had  higher  tax  rates  in  1914, 
and  32  had  higher  rates  in  1917. 
62nd  in  Local  taxation  for  schools,  rate  per  $1000  assessed 

value,     1913-14 $4.80 

Pamlico  led  with  $8.98. 
7th  in  Tax  value  of  farm  lands  compared  with  census  value, 

percent 73 

State  average,  39  percent. 

Sth  in  State  income  taxes  paid,  1917 $2417 

Thirty-two  counties  paid  no  state  income  tax  in 
1914,  and  9  counties  paid  none  in  1917.  None 
in  prosperous  counties  like  Pitt,  Watauga, 
Person  and  Caswell! 

10th  in  Professional  taxes  paid,  1917 $418 

Eighty-three  lawyers,  doctors,  photographers,  den- 
tists, and  the  like  in  Gaston. 

43rd  in  White  farm  mortgages,  1910,  percent 16 

State  average  for  whites,  17  percent. 

46th  in  Negro  farm  mortgages,   1910,  percent 28 

State  average  for  negroes,  26  percent. 
State  average  for  both  races,  18.5  percent. 

20th  in  Improved  roads   in  1914,   percent 31 

Miles  of  improved  roads,  155.  Miles  of  surfaced 
roads,  140.  In  February,  1920,  Gaston  has  250 
miles  of  sand-clay,  76  miles  of  macadam,  and 
16  miles  of  asphalt  roads. 

34th  in  Automobiles,  June  30,  1918,  number 1398 

This    is    an    average    of    nearly    one    for    every    6 

families. 
Amount    invested    in    motor    cars    $850,000.      In 
January,    1920,   they   numbered    2162    and    were 
^vorth  almost  2  million  dollars. 
Amount  invested  in  public  school  property  in  1918 
was  only  $352,000. 


38  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

19th  in  Taxes  paid  into  the  state  treasury  in  excess  of  pen- 
sions and  school  money  received,  in  1914 $20,240 

Eleven  counties  in  the  state  were  dependent;  that 
is  they  received  back  from  the  state  treasury 
more  money  than  they  paid  in.  These  eleven 
counties,  all  in  the  western  part  of  the  state, 
are  Ashe,  Jackson,  Clay,  Alexander,  Yancey, 
Alleghany,  Wilkes,  Mitchell,  Burke,  Yadkin, 
and  Watauga.  Mecklenburg  paid  into  the  state 
treasury  $88,241  more  than  it  received  back  in 
pensions  and  school  funds. 
37th  in  Confederate    pensioners,    1915,    rate    per    10,000    of 

population    73 

Number  of  pensioners  in  the  county,  293.  Clay 
ranks  first  with  a  rate  of  166  per  10,000  of  popu- 
lation. Perquimans  last  with  16  per  10,000  of 
population.  State  average,  62. 
23rd  in  Banks,  1914,  ten  in  number,  one  bank  for  the  fol- 
lowing number   of   people 4,004 

State   average,   one   bank  for  every   4,800   people. 

United  States  average,  one  bank  for  every  3,700 
people. 

Camden,  Currituck,  and  Graham  had  no  banks  in 
1914. 
32nd  in  Per  capita  bank  capital,  1915 $7.12 

Ten  banks  with  total  capital  of  $330,000. 

State  per  capita  $4.80;    New  Hanover  leads  with 
$40.65. 
20th  in  Per  capita  bank  resources,  1915 $64.20 

Total  resources  $2,689,000.  State  per  capita 
$62.25. 

New  Hanover  leads  with  $432  per  capita, 
19th  in  Per  capita  bank  loans  and  discounts,   1915 $43.70 

Total  bank  loans  and  discounts  $1,888,519. 

State  per  capita  $45.00. 
28th  in  War  thrift  per  capita,   1918 $80.00 

State  average  $90.     Total  investments  in  Liberty 
and  Victory  Bonds  and  War  Savings  Stamps  in 
Gaston,  $3,729,358. 
27th  in  Bank  account  savings,  per  capita,  1918 $22.00 

Total  bank  account  savings  in  Gaston  in  1918 
were  $1,006,659.  The  total  was  larger  in  only 
12  counties. 


VI 


White  Rural  Schools 

Nine-Year  Gains,  1908-09  to  1917-18 

Progress  in  the  rural  schools  of  Gaston  county  during  the  nine  years 
from  1908-09  to  1917-18  has  been  highly  creditable  in  many  respects. 
We  have  no  adequate  figures  later  than  1917-18.  (Repeated  requests 
for  detailed  information  for  the  year  1918-19  have  been  made  but 
these  have  met  with  failure  so  far.)  The  only  notable  decreases  that 
meant  actual  loss  were  in  the  percent  of  the  school  population  attend- 
ing school,  in  teachers  with  4  years'  experience,  and  in  teachers  having 
college  diplomas.  Either  the  highly  educated  teachers  and  teachers 
with  four  years  or  more  of  experience  went  to  the  town  schools  or  they 
moved  out  of  the  county  entirely.  Gains  have  been  made  in  these  two 
particulars  since  1915-16,  for  in  that  school  year  no  rural  school  teacher 
in  the  county  had  four  years  of  experience  or  a  college  diploma.  The 
decrease  in  schools  with  home-made  desks  was  100  percent,  every 
schoolhouse  in  1918  being  furnished  with  patent  desks.  The  gains  in 
this  nine-year  period  run  all  the  way  from  a  decrease  of  100  percent 
in  schools  with  home-made  desks  to  an  increase  of  280  percent  in  the 
number  of  local  tax  districts.  The  most  significant  and  important 
gains  were  in  the  rural  school  fund,  189  percent;  the  increase  in 
funds  raised  by  local  tax,  111  percent;  the  increase  in  the  fund  spent 
for  teaching  and  supervision,  197  percent;  the  increase  in  the  amount 
spent  for  administration,  225  percent;  the  increase  in  the  value  of  rural 
school  property,  218  percent;  and  in  average  annual  salaries  paid 
rural  white  teachers,  99  percent.  The  last  particular  represents  no 
relative  gain  since  living  costs  had  increased  as  fast  as  teachers'  sala- 
ries up  to  1917-18,  and  have  far  outstripped  the  increase  in  salaries 
since  1917-18. 

Consolidation  of  Schools 

One  of  the  most  important  gains  any  county  in  this  state  can  make 
is  in  the  number  of  two-  or  three-teacher  schools.  In  practically  every 
county  in  North  Carolina  we  have  too  many  one-teacher  schools.  So 
it  was  in  Gaston  in  1908-09,  so  it  is  to-day.  But  she  has  made  im- 
portant gains.  During  the  nine-year  period  there  was  an  increase  of 
two  in  the  number  of  districts  and  of  nine  in  the  number  of  school- 
houses.  The  districts  and  houses  should  be  reduced.  They  should  be 
combined  and  consolidated  and  the  county  re-districted. 


40  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

There  was  an  increase  of  131  percent  in  the  number  of  rural  schools 
having  two  or  more  teachers  and  an  increase  of  30.9  percent  in  the 
number  of  such  schools.  Still  44.8  percent  of  the  rural  white  schools 
have  only  one  teacher  and  must  necessarily  be  one-horse,  microscopic 
schools,  I  say  microscopic  because  some  of  them  in  this  state  are 
so  small  that  it  would  require  a  microscope  to  find  them.  A  few  of 
them  in  North  Carolina  the  county  superintendents  have  never  seen. 
The  increase  in  two-  or  more-teacher  schools  showsi  that  the  people 
are  giving  up  the  individual  benefits  derived  from  schools  at  their 
front  gates  for  the  social  benefits  of  larger  and  better  schools  not  so 
favorably  situated  with  respect  to  each  family.  Good  roads  and 
modern  school  trucks  facilitate  community  transportation  of  school 
children  thus  enabling  schools  to  consolidate.  Instead  of  increasing 
the  number  of  schoolhouses  from  61  to  70  as  she  did  during  the  nine- 
year  period,  she  could  better  have  reduced  the  number.  Gaston  is 
too  small  and  too  densely  populated  to  have  so  many  one-teacher 
schools.  Being  the  most  densely  populated  county  in  the  state  she 
could  more  easily  consolidate  her  schools  than  many  of  the  eastern 
and  mountain  counties  that  made  miore  progress  in  this  essential 
particular  during  the  nine  years  under  consideration. 

What  It  Means 

The  consolidated  school  means  a  strong  school  with  two  or  more 
teachers.  It  means  the  combination  of  two  or  more  weak,  one-teacher 
schools  into  one  strong  school  centrally  located.  Such  a  union  would 
make  it  possible  to  have  better  schools,  more  and  better  teachers  with 
better  salaries,  larger  classes,  better  classification  and  better  instruc- 
tion. Besides  it  means  the  enthusiasm  of  numbers.  The  little  one- 
room  school  is  likely  to  be  a  lifeless,  listless  school. 

A  thorough  survey  of  the  county  should  be  made  and  choice  school 
sites  mapped  to  the  end  that  future  buildings  shall  be  for  permanence 
on  principles  of  consolidation. 

Rural  School  Fund 

Gaston  has  made  considerable  progress  in  her  rural  school  fund. 
During  the  nine-year  period  the  school  fund  increased  from  $37,217  to 
$107,505,  an  increase  of  189  percent.  The  totals  raised  by  local  taxes 
and  the  general  county  property  tax  for  1908-09  and  1917-18  were  $30,420 
and  $65,095,  an  increase  of  111  percent. 

These  are  very  material  gains  and  show  increasing  willingness  on 
the  part  of  the  taxpayers  to  bear  heavier  burdens  for  the  support  of 
better  schools.  This  is  expressed  by  their  willingness  to  levy  local 
taxes  for  school  support.  However,  this  willingness  is  not  found  in 
48   of  the  rural  districts.     Only   19    of   the  67   rural   districts   levy   a 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  41 

local  school  tax.    The  districts  must  provide  more  local  money  if  they 
wish  better  educational  advantages  for  their  children. 

Better  Salaries 

A  very  significant  gain  was  in  the  average  annual  salaries  paid 
rural  white  teachers.  In  1908-09  the  average  of  such  salaries  was 
only  $203.76  while  in  1917-18  it  was  $406.30,  or  an  increase  of  99  per- 
cent in  nine  years.  In  1915-16  only  ten  counties  paid  their  rural 
white  teachers  more  than  Gaston.  Teachers  are  human  and  they 
will  go  where  salaries  are  largest  and  naturally  so.  They  are  even 
leaving  the  teaching  profession  altogether  because  even  though  they 
love  the  calling  they  find  it  impossible  to  make  ends  meet  on  the 
small  pittance  allowed  them.  They  are  becoming  carpenters,  elevator 
girls  in  cities,  ship  workers,  clerks,  etc.  They  are  seeking  jobs  that 
require  less  intelligence  and  training  but  offer  larger  compensation. 
Schools  are  closed  by  the  thousands  in  the  South  to-day  because  no 
one  can  be  found  who  will  teach  for  the  pay  offered.  More  than  a 
third  of  the  schools  in  six  southern  states  are  now  closed  for  this 
reason.  And  the  youth  of  the  land  are  going  uninstructed.  The  nation 
is  losing  by  thousands  its  most  valuable  asset,  the  teachers.  One 
thousand  have  resigned  during  the  last  five  months  in  New  York  City 
alone. 

Gaston  will  be  wise  to  pay  her  teachers  more  than  adjoining  coun- 
ties, for  a  county  plays  a  losing  game  when  it  serves  as  a  training 
ground  for  teachers  who  leave  for  other  counties  for  better  pay.  As 
long  as  Gaston  pays  her  teachers  more  than  her  neighbors  she  will 
have  better  schools  and  better  teachers. 

Better  Teachers  Needed 

Gaston  took  a  great  slump  in  the  years  between  1908-09  and  1917-18 
in  the  number  of  rural  teachers  with  college  diploma  and  four  years 
of  experience.  Of  the  160  rural  white  teachers  in  1917-18,  only  21 
had  four  years  of  experience  and  they  were  52.5  percent  fewer  than 
such  teachers  in  1908-09.  Only  25  of  the  160  teachers  had  college 
diplomas  and  they  were  32.4  percent  fewer  than  in  1908-09.  Then 
what  becomes  of  the  teachers?  To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer  it. 
Just  this,  they  leave  the  county  or  quit  teaching  after  practical  proof 
that  they  cannot  earn  a  decent  living.  Is  $406  a  year  just  pay  for  a 
teacher's  work?  Can  he  or  she  live  on  it?  That  was  the  average 
pay  in  1917-18.  It  was  above  the  average  for  the  state.  In  1914-15 
Gaston  had  75  rural  white  teachers  with  four  years  of  experience 
and  47  with  college  diplomas.  To-day  a  majority  of  these  are  fol- 
lowing more  remunerative  pursuits  and  their  places  have  been  taken 
by  inexperienced  teachers  with  a  minimum  of  preparation.  The 
penalty  of  course  falls  on  the  children. 


42  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 


Rural  School  Property 

The  value  of  rural  school  property  increased  during  these  nine 
years  from  $49,269  to  $169,850,  or  218  percent.  The  three  new  rural 
houses  built  in  1917-18  cost  only  $4,000,  so  the  total  value  of  white 
rural  school  property  is  worth  very  little  more  than  $175,000  at  the 
present  time.  Superintendent  Hall  estimates  that  in  February,  1920, 
the  total  value  of  town  and  county  school  property  is  $500,000.  The 
school  properties  in  Gastonia  and  Eessemer  City  constitute  the  big  bulk 
of  this  total  value.  Seventeen  years  ago  the  value  of  all  public  school 
property  in  the  county  was  only  $13,000.  Which  is  to  say,  the  value 
of  all  school  property  increased  in  a  thirty-nine  fold  ratio  during  this 
period.     A  remarkable  instance  of  progress. 

The  total  value  of  all  school  property  is  likely  to  be  doubled  during 
this  year.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  states  that  plans  are  under 
way  for  constructing  a  $500,000  modern  high  school  building  in  Gas- 
tonia. It  sounds  fabulous  to  us  who  have  been  accustomed  to  think 
in  small  terms,  but  it  can  easily  become  a  reality  in  the  remarkably 
rich  city  of  Gastonia.  But  while  Gastonia  is  building  palatial  schools 
she  and  other  rich  Gaston  cities  should  be  considering  the  less  fortu- 
nate country  regions  with  inadequate  school  facilities.  It  is  the 
country  schools  in  Gaston  and  in  nearly  every  other  county  that  need 
to  be  more  liberally  supported.  Gaston  should  initiate  the  county-unit 
system  of  school  support  as  New  Hanover  has  done  in  this  state  and  as 
every  county  in  Florida  has  done.  It  means  that  every  taxpayer's 
dollar  in  the  county  goes  to  help  support  every  school  in  the  county — 
the  schools  in  the  poor  country  regions  as  well  as  the  schools  in  the 
rich   city  wards. 

Modern  Advantages 

Seventeen  years  ago  Gaston  had  no  public  high  schools.  To-day 
there  is  a  public  high  school  in  each  of  the  six  townships  to  which 
all  children  of  rural  schools  who  have  passed  the  7th  grade  can  go  for 
eight  months  in  the  year.  These  schools  have  eleven  grades  so  that 
graduates  go  directly  to  college  or  university.  There  is  a  domestic 
science  teacher  in  each  of  these  schools. 

Enrollment  and  Attendance 

The  compulsory  school  law  does  not  seem  to  have  had  a  hearty 
support  in  Gaston.  The  rural  school  population  has  increased  18.8 
percent  during  the  nine-year  period  and  enrollment  increased  19.3 
percent.  But  the  percent  of  enrollment  increased  only  four-tenths  of 
1  percent,  while  there  was  an  actual  decrease  of  2.1  percent  in 
the  percent  of  school  population  attending  school.     Under  compulsory 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  43 

school  attendance  laws  a  smaller  percent  were  attending  school  In 
1917-18  than  nine  years  earlier.  Poor  attendance  and  enrollment  are 
not  confined  to  rural  schools.  In  1918-19  only  59.8  percent  of  all 
children  of  school  age  in  the  county  were  so  much  as  enrolled  on  the 
school  registers,  and  only  42.7  percent  of  the  total  school  population 
were  in  average  daily  attendance.  More  than  half  the  school  children 
of  Gaston  were  out  of  school  in  1918-19.  However,  this  is  partially  due 
to  the  influenza  epidemic  of  last  year.  In  1917-18  only  39  percent  of 
the  rural  white  school  children  were  in  average  daily  attendance  and 
there  was  no  epidemic  that  year.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the 
school  attendance  in  Gaston  is  hardly  creditable. 

In  1910  seventy-two  counties  ranked  ahead  of  Gaston  in  white  school 
attendance  6  to  14  years  of  age.  Sixty-eight  counties  ranked  ahead 
of  Gaston  in  school  attendance  on  enrollment  in  1915-16.  This  is  a 
deplorable  state  of  affairs.  Too  many  children  of  school  age  are  work- 
ing in  mills,  or  staying  at  home.  This  condition  is  not  existing  be- 
cause schools  have  not  been  provided.  The  taxpayers  have  been  liberal. 
Gaston  ranks  seventh  in  investment  in  rural  school  property;  12th  in 
investment  in  rural  school  property  per  capita;  29th  in  amount  spent 
upon  rural  buildings  and  supplies;  and  11th  in  salaries  paid  white 
teachers.  Why  should  she  tail  the  counties  of  the  state  in  enrollment 
and  attendance? 

Rural  School  Equipment 

Gaston  has  made  remarkable  improvement  in  the  equipment  of  her 
rural  schoolhouses.  In  1908-09,  thirty  of  the  61  rural  white  schools 
were  provided  with  patent  desks.  Now  every  one  of  the  70  country 
schools  is  provided  with  up-to-date  patent  desks.  She  has  provided 
libraries  in  many  schools.  Nearly  all  the  schools  have  basketball  and 
tennis  courts.  The  high  schools  are  provided  with  domestic  science 
departments  and  the  children  are  learning  to  live  better  in  their  homes. 

Constructive  Suggestions 

Gaston  needs  first  to  introduce  the  county-unit  plan  of  school  sup- 
port. Every  taxpayer's  dollar  in  the  county  should  go  toward  the 
support  of  every  school  in  the  county,  town  and  country. 

Next,  she  needs  to  reduce  greatly  the  number  of  school  districts  by 
consolidation.  Too  much  is  written  and  said  about  consolidation  and 
not  enough  is  done.  No  county  in  North  Carolina  is  big  enough  to 
have  within  her  borders  sixty-seven  school  districts  and  sixty-seven 
rural  white  schools.  Rural  schools  in  this  state  as  elsewhere  in 
the  South  are  a  mired  wheel.  Their  salvation  lies  in  consolidation. 
Twenty  rural  school  districts  with  twenty  good,  wide-awake  schools 
would  spell  progress  in  Gaston.  Each  school  should  have  a  dormitory 
for  its  teachers,  and  motor  transportation  for  distant  children. 


44  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Teachers'  salaries  must  be  increased  or  the  profession  will  fail  to 
hold  the  best  teachers  in  Gaston.  Their  places  will  be  filled  by  incom- 
petent and  inexperienced  teachers,  or  not  filled  at  all  as  is  now  the 
case  all  over  the  land. 

School  support  has  been  liberal  in  the  past.  It  must  be  more  liberal 
in  the  future  or  Gaston  will  fail  to  derive  the  maximum  benefits  that 
come  from  an  educated  citizenship. 

And  Gaston  is  abundantly  able  to  invest  in  public  school  education. 
On  January  1,  1920,  she  had  two  million  dollars  invested  in  motor 
cars,  which  was  nearly  six  times  the  total  she  had  invested  in  public 
school  property.     Comment  is  unnecessary. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 


45 


GAINS  IN  WHITE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 
From  190S-9  to  1917-18 


1908-09 

Total  school  fund S37.217.00 

Raised  by  local  tax 30,420.00 

Spent  for  teaching  and  supervision 23,868.00 

Spent  on  buildings  and  supplies 9,070.00 

Spent  for  administration 1,104.00 

Total  school  property 49,226.00 

Total  school  population 9,872.00 

Total  school  enrollment 6,627.00 

Average  daily  attendance 4,071.00 

Percent  enrolled .-      67.1 

Percent  of  daily  attendance. 41  1 

203.76 

66 

16 

24.3 

100 

27 

40 

37 

61 

30 

31 

4 

!, 500.00 

65 

5 

115 


Average  annual  salaries,  white S 

Rural  white  schools 

With  two  or  more  teachers 

Per  cent  with  two  or  more  teachers 

Total  rural  white  teachers 

With  normal  training 

With  4  years  experience 

Having  college  diplomas 

School  houses 

With  patent  desks :.. 

Home  made  desks 

Xew  school  houses 

Cost  of  new  houses 8 

Total  school  districts 

Local  tax  districts 

Average  term  in  days,  white.. 


1917-18 
S107.505.C0 
65.C95.C0 
70,926.00 
30,956  00 
3,585.00 
169,850  CO 
11,721.00 
7,906.00 
4, 635. CO 
67 . 5 
39 
S        406.30 
67 
37 

55  2 
160 

21 
25 
70 
70 

0 

3 

S    4,000.00 

67 

19 

134 


Per  Cent 
Increase 
189 
111 
197 
241 
225 
218 
18.8 
19.3 
13.8 
.4 
2.1* 
99 

1.5 
131 
30.9 
60 

47.5* 

32.4* 

14  8 
133 
100* 

25* 

60 

3.2 
280 

16.5 


Note: — *means  decrease. 

The  Rank  of  Gaston  County  Schools 

16th  in  Total   farm  wealth,    1910 $8,628,686 

7th  in  Investment  in  rural  school  property,  1918 $182,350 

Wake    leads    with    an   investment    of    $338,303    in 
rural   school  property.     Gaston  ranked  47th  in 
per   capita   country   wealth,    but    7th   in   invest- 
ment in  rural  school  property. 
29th  in  Amount   spent   upon   rural   buildings    and    supplies, 

1917-18     $7,349 

Buncombe  leads  with  $56,632. 

11th  in  Annual  salaries  paid  white  teachers,  1916 $389.49 

State  average,  $264.36.  New  Hanover  leads  with 
$531.69.  In  1918,  of  the  160  rural  white  teachers 
in  Gaston  only  25  had  college  diplomas  and  21 
4  years'  experience.  The  average  salary  paid  all 
white  teachers  in  1918  was  $443.30;  rural  white 
teachers   $406.34. 


46  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

74th  in  Salaries  paid  negro  rural  teachers,  average  in  1916.  $110 

In  1917-18  the  average  salary  was  only  $96. 

59th  in  Number  of  local  tax  districts,  1916,  percent 21.7 

19  local  tax  districts  in  1917-18.  48  white  rural 
school  districts  have  no  local  tax. 

22nd  in  Total  revenue  from  local  district  taxes,  1918 $12,538 

Received  from  state  appropriation  and  equalizing 
fund,   $19,753,   and  from  high  school  and  farm 
life  school  fund,  $4,500. 
59th  in  School  expenditures  per  $1,000  worth  of  property  in 

1914 $7.37 

McDowell   first   with   $20.85    per    $1,000    worth   of 
property.     State  average  $8.03.     In  1918  it  was 
$10.04   on  the   $1,000   in   Gaston. 
12th  in  Investment    in    white    school    property,    per    capita, 

1916    $6.24 

Per  capita  investment  in  school  property  in  1919 
was  $10.70.     Per  capita  investment  in  automo- 
biles in  1919  was  $42.80. 
73rd  in  White  school  attendance,  6  to  14  years  of  age,  1910 

census,   percent    72.7 

24th  in  Per   capita  expenditures   on   rural   school   buildings 

and  supplies,  1913-14    $0.45 

69th  in  School  attendance  on  enrollment,  1916,  percent 64.4 

Henderson  leads  with   86.2.      State   average,    68.8. 
44th  in  Rural   white    schools    with    two    or    more    teachers, 

1916,   percent    46 

In  1918,  37  of  the  67  rural  white  schools  had  two 
or  more  teachers. 
54th  in  Average  expenditures  per  high  school  pupil  enrolled, 

1916    $23.10 

It  is  a  decrease  of  $6.71  over  the  previous  year. 
Harnett  leads  with  $65.13  per  high  school  pupil 
enrolled.  Halifax  is  lowest  with  $8.37.  State 
average,  $25.92. 

Sources  of  Information : 

Reports  of  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
Department  of  Rural  Social  Science  Files,  University  of  N.  C. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 


47 


VII 


Farm  Conditions  and  Practices 

Too  Much  Idle  Land 

Although  Gaston  had  more  country  people  per  square  mile  than  any- 
other  county  in  the  state  in  1910,  only  42.8  percent  of  her  total  area 
was  under  cultivation.  The  average  for  the  state  was  only  29  per- 
cent. Second-growth  wood  lots,  broom-sedge,  and  the  like  occupied 
57.2  percent  of  the  total  area.  There  were  135,744  acres  of  land  not 
under  cultivation  while  only  101,696  acres  were  under  the  plow. 
Calculated  in  census  values  Gaston  has  one  and  a  third  million  dollars 
of  dead  farm  capital  buried  in  idle  farm  land;  or  five  and  a  half  mllion 
dollars   in   current  market  values. 

Gaston  does  not  have  such  vast  areas  of  idle  land  as  many  other 
counties,  but  she  has  enough  to  challenge  considerable  attention.  If 
she  were  to  reserve  50,000  acres  for  wood  lot  uses  and  allow  75  acres 
to  each  family,  there  is  room  in  Gaston  for  1,140  new  farm  families. 
Most  of  the  idle  land  is  wooded  or  worn  out  acres  on  farms  larger 
than  the  owner  wishes  or  is  able  to  cultivate.  Some  of  this  land  is  too 
hilly  to  plow  conveniently  and  is  lying  idle  awaiting  the  awakening  of 
the  people  to  the  economic  advantages  of  live-stock  farming.  Some  of 
the  hills  are  already  sodded  with  good  grasses  and  are  spotted  with 
improved  cattle.  These  hills  are  fertile  for  the  most  part  and  produce 
good  grass  and  forage  abundantly.  The  farmers  who  have  experimented 
have  found  that  grazing  good  cattle  on  them  is  sensible  farm  business. 

Farms  Too  Small 

In  1910  there  were  2,859  farms  in  Gaston  averaging  35.6  cultivated 
acres  per  farm.  The  county  is  71st  in  size  but  37th  in  number  of 
farms.  These  figures  indicate  farms  of  smaller  size  than  in  most 
counties.  A  little  more  than  half  the  farms  were  less  than  50  acres 
in  size,  both  cultivated  and  uncultivated  acres  considered.  No  farm 
was  larger  than  1,000  acres  in  size,  and  only  16  were  between  500 
and  1,000  acres.  The  farms  of  just  about  the  right  size  for  profitable 
farming  numbered  fewer  than  600.  It  is  thus  apparent  that  expan- 
sive farm  operations  are  the  exception.  The  population  is  dense,  the 
holdings  as  a  rule  are  small,  and  farmers  are  forced  to  engage  in 
intensive  farming — which  means  hand-made  crops,  little  improved 
farm  machinery,   high  production  costs,  small  profits,  and  little  accu- 


Gaston   County:  Economic  and  Social  49 

mulated  farm  wealth.  So  of  necessity,  unless  these  disadvantages 
are  overcome  by  scientific  knowledge,  technical  skill,  and  co-operative 
farm  enterprise  as  in  Denmark. 

Decreasing  Livestock 

Gaston  suffered  two  significant  losses  during  the  census  period. 
These  were  her  two-fifths  of  one  percent  loss  in  poultry  and  her  three 
percent  loss  in  swine.  While  she  was  gaining  over  32  percent  in 
population,  she  was  losing  in  two  of  the  most  important  sources  of 
meat  supply.  Only  21  counties  lost  in  poultry  production  during  the 
last  census  period  and  Gaston  was  one  of  them.  Poultry  is  probably 
the  cheapest  possible  source  of  meat  supply  for  the  farm  table. 
The  fowls  eat  waste  grain  and  other  things  scattered  in  the  fields  and 
around  the  barn  and  yard,  and  while  the  farmer  is  missing  nothing 
they  are  getting  ready  for  the  Sunday  dinner  table.  Gaston  people 
should  take  a  lively  interest  in  poultry  production  in  sheer  self-defense. 
Meat  of  every  sort  is  soaring  in  price  and  they  cannot  afford  to  pur- 
chase it  at  present  prices.  Poultry  yields  quick  returns  and  if  used 
for  egg  production,  is  a  constant  source  of  income  for  the  farm  home. 
Poultry  raising  takes  some  time,  attention  and  skill,  but  it  is  mostly 
clear  profit  on  the  farm. 

The  three  percent  decrease  in  swine  production  during  the  last 
census  period  was  a  cardinal  loss;  a  mistake  by  the  way  that  was 
made  by  68  other  counties  in  the  state.  Producing  pork  at  10 
cents  a  pound  is  a  better  proposition  than  buying  salt  pork  sides 
at  35  cents  a  pound  as  our  farmers  are  doing  to-day.  It  has  been 
conclusively  proved  that  the  South,  because  of  her  cheap  land  and  mild 
climate,  can  raise  hogs  more  cheaply  than  any  other  section  of 
the  United  States.  This  has  not  always  been  the  case,  but  is  to-day. 
It  cannot  be  done  when  they  are  fed  on  corn  alone  but  can  be 
done  when  hogs  are  turned  to  rape,  velvet  beans,  peanuts,  and 
fattened  with  corn  mixed  with  cotton-seed  meal  mixed  in  the  ratio 
of  three  to  four  parts  corn  and  one  part  meal. 

The  hog  yields  the  quickest  returns.  One  year  is  sufficient  to  grow 
a  large  porker  while  from  three  to  four  years  is  required  to  grow 
cattle  of  market  size.  The  hog  is  the  readiest  source  of  meat  supply 
in  the  cotton  belt  counties.  Fease  and  beans  can  be  planted  with  the 
corn  and  these  with  cotton  meal  make  about  the  best  and  cheapest 
hog  feed. 

In  1910  only  nine  counties  had  more  cattle  per  1,000  acres  than 
Gaston.  She  had  37  cattle  per  thousand  acres  while  the  state  average 
was  only  23.  However  the  average  for  the  United  States  was  61. 
In  a  densely  populated  county  like  Gaston  the  market  demand  at 
home  for  milk  and  butter,  poultry  and  eggs,  beef,  pork,  and  mutton 
4 


50  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

offers  steady  profits  to  the  nearby  farmers — to  say  nothing  of  Char- 
lotte and  the  mill  towns  In  South  Carolina. 

Gaston  is  in  every  way  admirably  conditioned  for  livestock  farming 
and  livestock  enterprises.  Her  farmers  were  wise  in  materially  in- 
creasing their  cattle  during  the  census  period.  The  ten-year  increase 
was  27  percent  and  only  20  counties  made  greater  gains.  An  agricul- 
tural prosperity  based  on  livestock  farming  and  livestock  industries 
is  the  surest  and  safest  prosperity.  Livestock  feeds  the  farm  family 
and  enriches  the  farm,  and  makes  cotton  a  surplus  money  crop. 

Although  Gaston  was  one  of  the  first  10  counties  in  cattle  per  1,000 
acres  when  the  1910  census  was  taken,  her  rank  in  swine  was  only 
41st.  The  simple  truth  is  that  the  county  is  70  percent  below  the 
level  of  even  a  lightly  stocked  farm  area.  There  is  room  for  an  im- 
mense increase  in  livestock  farming  in  Gaston. 

A  Cotton  County 

Gaston  is  one  of  the  28  counties  in  North  Carolina  in  which  more 
than  half  of  the  total  annual  crop  wealth  is  produced  by  cotton  alone. 
Or  so  it  was  in  1910.  Gaston,  being  a  small  county,  does  not  produce 
as  many  bales  as  some  of  the  large  counties,  but  the  percent  of  total 
crop  values  produced  by  cotton  is  high.  It  was  59  percent  or  nearly 
three-fifths  of  the  total  crop  wealth  produced  in  1910.  In  1914  she 
produced  13,206  bales  and  ranked  twenty-third  among  the  other  coun- 
ties in  the  state  in  total  number  of  bales  produced.  This  total  was 
952  bales  more  than  the  crop  of  1910;  but  in  1916  her  cotton  crop  fell 
to  5,617  bales,  and  the  production  of  food  and  feed  crops  probably 
increased  proportionately.  If  so  the  county  is  at  last  headed  in  the 
right  direction.  The  state  average  of  non-food  crops  in  1910  was  53 
percent;  in  1919  it  was  66  percent.  Thus  we  see  that  Gaston,  with  59 
percent,  was  considerably  below  the  state  average  in  the  production 
of  food  and  feed  crops.  This  fact  largely  explains  why  Gaston  is 
below  the  state  average  in  per  capita  country  wealth.  Her  farmers 
failed  to  see  the  economic  fallacy  of  buying  bread  and  meat  with  cotton 
money — a  policy  that  never  yet  made  a  farm  community  rich  any- 
where on  earth.  Holding  down  cotton  money  by  a  system  of  live-at- 
home  farming  would  make  Gaston  and  other  cotton  belt  counties  rich 
beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice  in  a  single  ten  years.  The  present  high 
cost  of  all  food  and  feed  supplies  only  emphasizes  this  truth.  The 
live-at-home  farmers  of  the  middle  west  are  the  farmers  that  are 
reaping  the  largest  profits  and  swelling  their  bank  accounts  most 
rapidly;  not  the  cotton  and  tobacco  farmers  of  the  South,  even  with 
36  cent  cotton  and  52  cent  tobacco.  If  the  automobile  is  a  yardstick 
of  prosperity  the  South  holds  about  the  same  rank  in  wealth  that  she 
held   in  1910.     In  Iowa  in  1919   there   was   one  automobile   for  every 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  51 

6  inhabitants  and  in  North  Carolina  there  was  only  one  for  every  23. 
High-priced  cotton  and  tobacco  have  meant  no  more  to  the  South  than 
high-priced  food  and  feed  crops  have  meant  to  the  West. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  suddenly  realized  that  the 
South  for  long  years  has  been  committing  economic  suicide  by  her 
erroneous  system  of  one-crop  farming.  The  southern  states  are  the 
natural  garden  spot  of  the  nation.  Our  opportunities  have  been  plainly 
visible  but  we  have  failed  to  see  them.  Thousands  of  experiments 
have  proved  that  no  section  of  the  United  States  can  compete  with 
the  South  in  the  production  of  staple  bread  and  meat  products.  Nev- 
ertheless we  have  allowed  our  time  and  effort  to  be  consumed  in  the 
production   of  cotton   and   tobacco. 

We  should  continue  to  produce  these  crops  but  not  until  we  have 
fed  ourselves  and  our  farm  animals.  After  that  cotton  and  tobacco 
are  mostly  clear  profit. 

In  Gaston  and  most  other  counties  there  are  some  dozens  of  farmers 
who  clearly  prosper  beyond  their  neighbors.  They  are  invariably  live- 
at-home  farmers,  with  cotton  or  tobacco  or  both  as  surplus  money 
income.  They  are  the  farmers  whose  credit  is  good  and  whose  bank 
account  is  large.  But  even  demonstrations  like  these  do  not  appear 
to  influence  the  farmers  who  are  cotton  crazy.  As  Mr.  Branson  says, 
"Nothing  short  of  sheer  necessity  and  dire  calamity  will  ever  cause 
the  southern  farmer  to  change  his  ruinous  method  of  farming."  Our 
crop  system  came  near  bankrupting  us  in  1914,  but  we  seem  to  have 
forgotten  the  calamity  that  hit  the  South  that  year. 

Our  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  says  he  has  never  known  a  man 
who  raised  cotton  to  the  exclusion  of  other  crops  escape  a  sheriff's 
sale.  He  also  states  that  he  has  never  heard  of  a  man  being  sold 
out  for  taxes  or  debt  who  had  a  crib  full  of  corn. 

Probably   you    have    observed    the    same    thing. 

Home  Gardens 

The  population  of  Gaston  is  not  only  large  to  the  square  mile  but 
some  16,000  of  the  people  are  town  dwellers  and  mill  operatives.  They 
are  consumers,  not  producers  of  food — unless  they  are  devoted  to  the 
cultivation  of  garden  spaces  around  the  homes.  Here  is  not  only  a 
field  of  development  open  to  Gaston  people,  but  here  is  also  a  neces- 
sity that  is  a  little  keener  in  Gaston  than  in  any  other  county  in  the 
state  because  a  larger  percent  of  her  population  is  industrial.  People 
here  and  elsewhere  must  raise  a  large  measure  of  the  food  they  eat  or 
they  will  undoubtedly  go  hungry,  under  present  conditions.  We  need 
to  foster  the  impulse  and  the  fine  art  of  gardening.  It  should  be 
ingrained  in  us  as  in  the  Chinese,  the  Italians,  and  the  Portugese. 
If  we  get  the  gardening  habit  out  of  this  time  of  high  prices,  we  will 


52  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

have  been    well  paid   in  the   end.     The   most   prosperous   men   in   the 
faculty  at  the  University  are  home  gardeners. 

The  total  farm  wealth  produced  in  Gaston  by  both  crops  and  animal 
products  in  1910  amounted  to  $2,179,082.  The  total  farm  wealth  pro- 
duced in  the  county  in  four  years  is  more  than  the  farm  wealth 
the  farmers  have  been  able  to  accumulate  in  71  years  of  history. 
This  is  due  mainly  to  the  erroneous  system  of  farming  that  has  pre- 
vailed in  Gaston  these  last  50  years.  These  farmers  create  wealth 
abundantly  and  spend  it  unnecessarily  because  of  the  prevailing  defec- 
tive system  of  cotton  farming.  Nearly  half  the  total  farm  wealth  of 
the  county  is  produced  by  cotton  alone.  Cotton  production  need  not 
be  less  but  food  crops  should  be  more.  It  can  be  so:  indeed  it  was 
so  in  Gaston  and  all  over  the  South  in  1915.  We  were  driven  to  it 
by  the  low  price  of  cotton.  We  ought  to  be  driven  to  it  now  by  the 
sheer  force  of  common  sense. 

1S60  and  1910 

The  following  table  is  compiled  from  the  1860  and  the  1910  census 
reports  and  shows  the  animals  on  farms  and  the  crops  raised  at  these 
two  periods. 

Of  the  19  particulars  noted  Gaston  suffered  a  loss  in  8.  These 
losses  were  in  horses,  sheep,  swine,  wheat,  rye,  rice,  tobacco,  pease, 
and  beans.  Some  of  the  gains  look  large  but  when  we  consider  the 
increase  In  population,  from  9,307  in  1860  to  37,063  in  1910,  which 
was  nearly  a  threefold  increase,  we  see  that  in  only  three  particulars 
did  gains  in  crops  or  livestock  really  keep  pace  with  gains  in  popula- 
tion.    These  were  in  cotton,  butter,  and  hay  production. 

While  there  was  a  slight  gain  in  the  total  amount  of  corn  during 
the  50  years,  the  production  per  inhabitant  decreased  from  36.7  bushels 
in  1860  to  11  bushels  in  1910.  Similar  per  capita  decreases  are  also 
true  of  other  crops,  with  the  exceptions  named,  but  the  largest  per 
capita  decreases  were  in  the  production  of  beef,  pork,  and  mutton. 

Facts  About  Farm  Conditions  and  Practices 

14th  in  Amount  of  land  under  cultivation;   percent  of  total 

area    42.8 

State  average,  29  percent.  Land  under  cultiva- 
tion, 101,696  acres.  Idle  land,  135,744  acres,  or 
57.2  percent  of  the  total  area.  Reserving  50,000 
acres  for  wood-lot  uses  and  allowing  75  acres  to 
each  family,  there  is  room  for  1,140  new  farm 
families. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  53 

37th  in  Number  of  farms,  1910 2,859 

Average  cultivated  acres  per  farm  35.6.  Size  of 
cultivated  farms  larger  in  38  counties,  1,483,  or 
a  little  more  than  half,  are  less  than  50  acres 
in  size,  both  cultivated  and  uncultivated  land 
considered.  There  is  no  farm  of  more  than 
1,000  acres  in  the  county;  and  only  16  are  more 
than  500  and  less  than  1,000  acres.  Gaston  is 
a  land  of  small  farms — and  the  average  size  is 
too  small  for  profitable  farming.  Fewer  than 
600  farms  are  about  the  right  size. 

79th  in  Poultry  increases,  1900-10,  percent — .4 

20  counties  lost  in  poultry  production  and  Gaston 
ranks  20th  in  losses.  In  1900  there  were  62,756 
fowls  of  all  kinds  in  Gaston,  in  1910  there  were 
only  62,535  fowls.     Johnston  leads  with  127,254. 

10th  in  Cattle  per  1,000  acres,  1910  census 37 

State  average,  23;  United  States  average,  61.  In 
1S60  the  cattle  in  Gaston  numbered  5,495;  in 
1910  they  were  7,552  for  a  population  four  times 
greater. 

21st  in  Cattle  increase,  1900-10,  percent 27 

Caldwell   increased    62   per   cent;    state   average 
increase  12  percent. 

41st  in  Swine  per  1,000  acres,  1910  census 34 

State  average,  39;  United  States  average,  66; 
Iowa,  263.  In  1860  the  swine  in  Gaston  were 
15,335,  but   in   1910  they  were  onlv  6,585. 

33rd  in  Swine  decrease,  1900-10,  percent 3 

Gaston  was  one  of  the  69  counties  that  decreased 
in  swine  production  from  1900-10. 

57th  in  Sheep  losses,    1900-10,   percent 64 

In  1860  there  were  5,386  sheep  in  Gaston,  but  in 
1910  only  501.  The  average  value  of  sheep  on 
the  tax  books  of  Gaston  in  1917  was  $1.24  each; 
dogs  $15.27  each! 

20th  in  Livestock  level,  percent 30 

19  counties  make  a  better  showing.  There  is  room 
for  a  70  percent  increase  in  farm  animals  of  all 
sorts. 

28th  in  Investment     in    farm     implements    per    acre,     1910 

census    $2.47 

State  average,  $2.00;  United  States  average.  $2.52. 


54  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

20th  in  Horsepower;    one    work    animal    for    the    following 

number   of  acres 22.69 

State  average,  25.85;  United  States  average,  19.81. 
68th  in  Farm  tenancy,  1910,  percent 49.8 

State  average,  42.3  percent.  Increase  in  farm 
tenancy  in  Gaston,  1900-10,  was  5  percent. 
Forty-seven  counties  in  the  state  decreased  in 
farm  tenancy.  White  farm  owners  in  Gaston, 
1,243;  negro  owners,  178.  White  tenants,  810; 
negro  tenants,  613.  The  landless,  homeless 
white  tenants  and  their  families  number  about 
4,000  souls;  1,116  are  share  tenants,  and  only 
243  are  cash  or  standing  rent  tenants.  Tenants 
raise  cotton  mainly  and  neglect  food  and  feed 
crops. 

Diversified  crops  and  livestock  farming  are  impos- 
sible in  an  area  of  excessive  farm  tenancy. 
29th  in  Cotton  production,  total  number  of  bales,  1915 9,046 

Robeson  first  with  47,102.  In  1914  Gaston  pro- 
duced 13,206  bales,  but  in  1917  the  crop  fell  to 
5,564  bales  and  34  counties  raised  a  larger  total. 
The  1919  crop  promises  to  be  the  largest  crop 
since  1915. 
18th  in  Non-food   crops  produced — cotton   and   so   on $1,055,931 

Non-food  crops  produce  annually  59  percent  of 
total  crop  values.  Food  and  feed  crops  produce 
only  41  percent  of  the  total  crop  values.  State 
average  of  non-food  crops  is  53  percent.  Mani- 
festly Gaston  is  deficient  in  food  production. 
22nd  in  Annual  farm   wealth   produced $2,179,082 

This  total  covers  both  crops  and  animal  products. 
In  four  years'  time  the  farmers  produce  more 
farm  wealth  than  they  have  been  able  to  accu- 
mulate in  some  seventy  odd  years.  Fifty-nine 
percent  of  all  crop  wealth  was  produced  by 
non-food  crops.  The  need  is  for  more  and  better 
livestock  and  for  livestock  industries  such  as 
cheese  factories,  creameries  and  the  like. 
41st  in  Crop  yielding  power  per  acre,  1910 $16.54 

State  average,  $20.18  in  1914. 
75th  in  Annual  production  of  farm  wealth  per  inhabitant.  .  .  $69.60 

State  average,  $85.  Average  for  the  French 
farmer,  $126.  Gaston's  low  average  is  largely 
due  to  the  large  number  of  mill  operatives 
counted  as  country  population. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  55 


GASTON  FARMS  IN  I860  AND  1910 

Livestock  and  Crops 

1860  1910 

Milk  cows    2,299  4,192 

Other   cattle    3,196  3,360 

Horses    1,650  1,642 

Mules   and  asses    • 853  2,847 

Sheep    5,366  501 

Swine    15,335  6,585 

Butter,   lbs 85,509  603,038 

Wheat,   bushels    74,060  45,677 

Rye,    bushels . 637  573 

Corn,   bushels 343,893  410,058 

Oats,   bushels 17,216  59,080 

Tobacco,  lbs 4,821  None 

Cotton,    bales    714  12,258 

Pease  and  beans,  bushels 8,808  3,621 

Potatoes,   Irish,   bushels    4,922  10,888 

Potatoes,  sweet,  bushels    21,304         •     48,791 

Hay,    tons 1,136  5,220 


VIII 


Food  and  Feed  Production  and  the  Local 
Market  Problem 

Shortage,  Two  and  a  Third  Million  Dollars 

The  farm  and  pantry  supplies  consumed  in  Gaston  in  the  census 
year  amounted  to  two  million,  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
dollars  more  than  the  farmers  of  the  county  produced.  Which  is  to 
say  the  farms  of  Gaston  failed  by  this  sum  to  produce  the  food  and 
feed  needed  for  consumption  by  man  and  beast.  And  this  deficit  in 
home-raised  supplies  is  a  minimum  figure,  based  on  the  annual  con- 
sumption averages  as  given  out  by  the  federal  authorities  from  time 
to  time.  This  sum  covers  staple  bread  stuffs,  not  dainties,  extras,  and 
luxuries. 

This  shortage  in  detail  covers  2,900,000  pounds  of  meat;  1,176,000 
pounds  of  butter;  279,400  fowls;  335.900  dozen  eggs;  738,900  bushels 
of  corn;    102,600  bushels  of  wheat,  and  4.100  tons  of  hay. 

The  one  noticeable  fact  is  that  Gaston  did  not  produce  a  surplus 
in  any  of  the  staple  food  and  feed  commodities.  Most  counties  have 
a  surplus  of  some  one  or  two  home-raised  food  supplies,  but  not  so 
with  Gaston. 

Such  is  the  deficit  in  home-raised  food  and  feed  products  in  1910; 
the  deficit  was  around  5  million  dollars  in  1919,  unless  the  farmers 
of  Gaston  have  given  increased  attention  to  food  crops  during  the 
last  nine  years,  which  does  not  seem  likely,  considering  the  increase 
in   cotton   production. 

Why  Our  Farmers  Fall  Behind 

Our  farmers  did  not  supply  the  two  million,  four  hundred  thousand 
dollar  local  market  demand,  because  of  (1)  excessive  attention  to 
cotton;  (2)  excessive  farm  tenancy,  under  the  crop-lien,  time-credit 
system;  (3)  the  lack  of  ready  cash  markets  for  home-raised  supplies; 
and   (4)   the  large  proportion  of  town  and  mill  population. 

Too  Little  Home-raised  Supplies 

Fifty-nine  percent  of  the  total  crop  wealth  produced  in  Gaston  year 
by  year  is  produced  by  cotton  alone,  and  up  to  1914  this  ratio  had 
steadily  increased  for  half  a  century. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  .37 

The  farmers  of  Gaston  have  been  giving  increasing  attention  to 
cotton  and  decreasing  attention  to  grain  crops,  hay  and  forage,  domes- 
tic animals  and  livestock.  One  proof  of  this  is  that  81  counties  made 
greater  increases  than  Gaston  in  farm  sales  of  dairy  products  during 
the  census  period  1900-09.  Seventy-eight  counties  made  more  rapid 
progress  in  poultry.  Gaston  actually  had  fewer  poultry  in  1910  than 
in  1900. 

In  1910  the  population  was  nearly  33  percent  greater  than  in  1900, 
and  the  corn  crop  was  43  percent  greater,  but  the  increase  in  cotton 
production  during  the  same  period  was  126  percent.  The  cotton 
increase  was  three  times  the  corn  increase.  As  a  result  the  shortage 
in  home-raised  corn  in  1910  was  738,895  bushels.  A  corn  shortage 
of  this  sort  in  1919  would  take  out  of  the  county  more  than  a  million 
dollars  in  cash.  Producing  corn  at  38  cents  a  bushel,  as  12  of  your 
Corn  Club  Boys  of  Gaston  did  in  1916,  is  far  better  than  paying  $2.00 
a  bushel  for  it,   as  the   farmers   are   doing  to-day. 

During  the  ten  years  1900-09,  the  county  lost  64  percent  of  her 
sheep.  Gaston  has  been  steadily  losing  in  sheep  since  1860,  at  which 
time  there  were  5,366  sheep  in  the  county;  in  1910  there  were  only 
501. 

Furthermore  the  loss  in  swine  during  this  period  was  3  percent. 
Between  1860  and  1910  swine  in  Gaston  fell  from  15,335  to  6,585. 
During  this  half  century  there  was  a  57  percent  loss  in  the  total 
number  of  swine. 

Gaston  was  one  of  20  counties  that  decreased  in  poultry  during  the 
census  period   1900-09.     Her   loss   was   two-fifths    of   one   percent. 

Even  in  1860  with  crude  methods  of  thrashing,  nearly  twice  as 
much  wheat  was  produced  in  Gaston  as  in  1910.  In  1860  the  farmers 
produced  nearly  8  bushels  per  inhabitant,  or  twice  as  much  as  needed 
for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  county.  During  the  fifty 
year  period  the  wheat  crop  fell  from  8  to  1.23  bushels  per  inhabitant, 
or  less  than  one-third  the  amount  needed  for  human  consumption. 

In  1910  Gaston  was  the  most  densely  populated  rural  community 
in  North  Carolina,  having  an  average  of  84.4  country  people  to  the 
square  mile.  But  there  were  135,744  idle  acres  in  the  county;  which 
is  to  say,  57.2  percent  of  the  total  area  was  in  broomsedge,  old  field 
pine,  and  scrub  timber. 

In  1916  twelve  Corn  Club  Boys  in  Gaston  averaged  46.8  bushels  to 
the  acre,  or  more  than  three  times  the  average  for  the  county  at 
large  in  1910.  At  this  rate  the  farmers  in  Gaston  could  have  pro- 
duced 1,250,000  bushels  or  100.000  bushels  more  than  were  needed  for 
man  and  beast.  Raising  a  surplus  of  corn  beats  importing  or  needing 
to  import  over  700,000  bushels  at  two  dollars  a  bushel. 

In  1910  nearly  exactly  half  of  the  farms  of  Gaston  were  cultivated 
by  tenants,  and  farm  tenancy  under  the  crop-lien,  time-credit  system 


58  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

in  the  South  means  more  cotton,  and  less  attention  to  food  and  feed 
crops  such  as  grain,  hay  and  forage,  nuts,  vegetables,  poultry  and 
dairy  products,  beef,  mutton,  and  pork. 

The  annual  consumption  of  these  products  in  Gaston  in  1910 
amounted  to  three  and  a  half  million  dollars'  worth,  but  the  farms 
of  the  county  produced  less  than  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  them.  As  a  result  over  two  and  a  quarter  million  dollars 
in  cold  cash  went,  or  needed  to  go,  out  of  the  county  to  pay  for  food 
and  feed  supplies  that  might  have  been  raised  at  home;  and  the 
power  of  the  people  to  accumulate  wealth  was  lessened  by  just  so 
much. 

The  Penalties  We  Pay 

As  a  result,  the  per  capita  country  wealth  in  Gaston  in  the  census 
year  was  only  $275  and  forty-six  counties  in  the  state  made  a  better 
showing.  In  Alleghany  it  was  $560,  in  the  United  States  $994,  and 
in  Iowa  $3,386. 

Gaston  ranked  22nd  in  North  Carolina  in  production  of  total  crop 
values  but  only  47th  in  per  capita  country  wealth.  Alleghany  which 
raises  no  cotton  and  very  little  tobacco  leads  the  counties  in  North 
Carolina  in  this  particular. 

Gaston  suffers  a  steady  loss  of  cash  year  by  year  amounting  to 
over  two  and  a  quarter  million  dollars.  Or  so  it  is  in  average  years. 
This  fact  largely  explains  why  the  food  and  feed  farmers  of  the 
Middle  West  grow  rich  and  the  cotton  and  tobacco  farmers  of  the 
South  remain  poor.  We  produce  wealth  amazingly  but  retain  wealth 
feebly. 

The  high  cost  of  living  in  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  cotton  belt 
results  from  the  fact  that  they  have  to  import  their  food  from  the 
far-away  West  over  more  than  a  thousand  miles  of  railroads.  An 
innumerable  host  of  middlemen  add  to  the  consumer's  bill,  because 
each  must  have  his  profit.  The  part  of  the  consumer's  dollar  which 
goes  to  pay  for  packing,  transporting,  jobbing,  retailing,  and  delivery 
is  much  more  than  the  producer  gets  for  his  products,  and  this  part 
increases  as  the  distance  increases.  If  the  farmers  of  nearby  towns 
and  cities  produced  the  food  needed  for  home  and  town  consumption, 
both  consumer  and  producer  would  be  benefited,  for  the  consumer 
would  get  more  for  his  dollar  and  the  producer  would  get  more  for 
his    product. 

Gaston's  Interest  in  Local  Produce  Markets 

Gastonia  and  other  towns  in  Gaston,  like  towns  and  cities  else- 
where, are  interested  in  the  local  market  problem,  because,  in  the 
first  place,  it  concerns  the  increasing  high  cost  of  living.  The  whole 
world  is  menaced  by  this  primary  problem  to-day,  because  once  more 
in  the  round  of  history  population  presses  upon  the  food  supply.     It 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  59 

is  next  to  impossible  to  pick  up  a  newspaper  and  miss  seeing  a  long 
article  about  the  high  cost  of  living,  its  causes  and  the  remedies. 
It  is  the  fundamental  question  facing  the  American  people  and  the 
rest  of  the  world  to-day.  The  cost  of  foodstuffs  is  everywhere  higher 
while  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar  is  less.  To-day  it  is  barely 
a  third  what  it  was  twenty  years  ago;  that  is  to  say,  30  or  35  cents 
then  would  buy  as  much  food  as  a  dollar  will  buy  to-day.  Forty- 
nine  cents  in  1915  would  buy  as  much  of  home  necessities  as  one 
hundred  cents  will  do  to-day. 

If  Gastonia  and  Gaston  must  depend  on  the  far-away  West  for 
food  and  feed  supplies  to  the  extent  of  over  two  million  dollars  a 
year,  the  overhead  cost  of  transportation  and  handling  by  a  swarming 
multitude  of  middlemen  will  of  course  add  enormously  to  the  cost 
of  pantry  supplies. 

Gaston's  Crop-Producing  Power 

Gaston  county  farmers  can  easily  produce  all  the  standard  food 
crops,  meat,  and  milk  needed  for  consumption  in  Gaston.  Her  soils 
are  good  and  capable  of  being  brought  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation 
with  proper  methods  of  farming.  The  crop  yielding  power  per  acre 
in  1910  was  $16.54  and  only  forty  counties  of  the  state  made  a  better 
showing.  Much  of  Gaston's  area  is  better  suited  to  livestock  farming 
than  to  cotton  production.  The  hillside  areas  of  Gaston  are  better 
suited  to  pasture-land  farming  than  much  of  more  level  lands  else- 
where in  the  state.  Only  thirty-seven  counties  produced  more  corn 
per  acre  in  1910.  The  Corn  Club  Boys  of  the  county  averaged  over 
46  bushels  to  the  acre  in  1916  and  the  county  could  easily  produce 
corn  enough  and  to  spare.  But  Gaston  has  been  and  is  now  depending 
upon  the  West  for  meal  and  flour,  when  she  can  produce  these  com- 
modities as  cheaply  and  abundantly  as  any  other  county  in  the  Pied- 
mont region,  if  only  the  farmers  were  minded  to  do  it.  Not  even 
35-cent  cotton  will  buy  much  corn  at  $2.00  a  bushel  and  flour  at  $15.00 
a  barrel,  the  price  they  are  bringing  to-day. 

In  the  census  year  the  per-acre  producing  power  of  Gaston  averaged 
$16.54.  It  was  slightly  higher  than  the  average  for  the  country-at- 
large.  In  North  Carolina  her  rank  was  41st  in  this  particular.  The 
average  for  the  county  was  high  because  59  percent  of  the  total  crop 
wealth  was  produced  by  cotton  alone.  Cotton  is  a  hand-made  crop 
and  tends  to  yield  large  gross  values  per  acre,  but  low  values  per 
worker.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Gaston  fell  to  the  75th  plac? 
in  the  production  of  farm  wealth  per  inhabitant  in  1910.  This  aver- 
age was  only  $58.70,  while  the  average  for  the  state  was  $85.00. 
Gaston's  low  average  is  also  due  in  part  to  her  large  mill  population. 
who  are  consumers  not  producers  of  food  supplies. 

However  Gaston  and  other  cotton  belt  counties  raise  cotton  because 


60  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

the  whole  world  is  an  organized  market  for  it.  The  farmer  does 
not  need  to  seek  markets  for  his  cotton,  the  market  seeks  him.  He 
can  sell  it  for  instant  ready  cash  and  can  establish  credit  upon  it 
even  before  it  is  planted.  But  not  so  in  the  case  of  food  crops  and 
animal  products. 

Poor  Market  Facilities 

There  is  no  organized  local  market  in  Gaston  for  food  and  feed 
crops.  The  farmer  must  peddle  his  vegetables,  fruits,  butter  and  eggs, 
meat  and  poultry,  from  door  to  door  or  sell  it  to  a  merchant  at  a 
shamefully  low  price.  Often  the  merchant  will  not  buy  the  supplies 
outright,  but  will  offer  to  sell  them  on  commission.  Then  again,  the 
farmer  floods  the  market  in  seasons  of  plenty,  and  at  other  seasons 
when  things  are  high  and  scarce  he  has  little  or  nothing  to  sell.  The 
producers  and  consumers  are  not  organized  in  ways  advantageous 
to  both.  They  are  as  far  apart  as  though  they  lived  on  separate 
planets. 

The  producers  and  consumers  of  Gaston  suffer  from  the  Iron  Law 
of  Trade  as  do  any  other  people.  This  law  is:  keep  producers  and 
consumers  as  far  apart  as  possible;  pass  economic  goods  from  the 
one  to  the  other  through  as  many  hands  as  possible;  charge  con- 
sumers as  much  as  possible;  and  pay  producers  as  little  as  possible. 
As  long  as  this  law  is  in  operation  both  consumers  and  producers 
must  suffer.  They  can  be  brought  together  only  through  co-operation. 
Wherever  there  is  lack  of  organized  co-operation  between  producers 
and  consumers,  or  wherever  there  is  suspicion,  disunion,  and  collision, 
both  suffer  alike.  Producers  receive  too  little  for  their  produce,  and 
consumers  pay  too  much. 

Missing  An  Opportunity 

Gaston  with  her  large  town  population  and  her  dense  rural  areas 
is  missing  a  great  opportunity.  Few  counties  in  the  state  have  a 
finer  chance  for  the  co-operation  of  city  and  country  people  in  pro- 
ducing and  marketing  home-raised  food  supplies.  These  city  people 
must  consume  food,  and  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  where  it  can 
be  raised  more  cheaply  for  the  cities  and  towns  in  Gaston  than  in 
Gaston  county.  When  raised  by  home  farmers  and  delivered  to  home 
consumers,  the  heavy  cost  of  transportation  and  the  vast  host  of 
middlemen  are  eliminated.  The  producer  could  get  more  for  his 
products  and  at  the  same  time  consumers  would  pay  less.  Gaston's 
greatest  chance  to  achieve  abiding  prosperity  lies  in  the  co-operation 
of  her  city  and  country  populations,  upon  the  basis  of  good  will  and 
mutual  advantage. 

For  instance,  there  ought  to  be  a  co-operative  creamery  in  Gaston, 
as  in  Lincoln,   Mecklenburg,  Union,   and  a  half  dozen  other   counties 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  61 

in  the  state.  This  creamery  would  of  course  need  to  have  a  constant 
milk  supply.  It  would  need  milk  wagons  to  collect  cream  at  regular 
intervals.  A  manager  would  have  charge  of  every  detail  of  the 
finances  and  make  out  the  checks  at  the  end  of  a  week  or  two  weeks. 
The  farmers  would  receive  profits  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
cream  they  supplied.  This  creamery  could  help  to  supply  the  vast 
demand  for  butter  in  Gaston,  in  Charlotte,  and  farther  afield,  and 
besides  it  would  furnish  the  farmers  and  housewives  with  a  steady 
cash  income  week  by  week.  The  creamery  helps  to  build  up  dairy 
farming  as  a  profitable  community  enterprise;  it  means  permanent 
pastures,  winter  cover  crops,   silos,   and  better  breeds  of  dairy  cows. 

Such  creameries  ususally  engage  in  related  business,  as  collecting 
and  shipping  eggs,  poultry,  meats,  fruits,  and  the  like,  for  their 
patrons.  This  would  be  a  profitable  side-line  in  the  proposed  creamery 
for  Gastonia. 

The  capital  required  to  start  a  co-operative  creamery  in  Gaston 
would  not  be  prohibitive,  considering  the  wealth  of  the  county.  What 
is  required  is  an  energetic  man  who  understands  the  business  of 
creameries  and  the  marketing  of  creamery  products.  Farm  pros- 
perity in  Wisconsin  is  based  directly  on  her  3,500  creameries,  con- 
denseries,  and  cheese  factories. 

Doubling  Our  Farm  Wealth 

But  leaving  city  and  town  consumers  out  of  consideration,  the 
farmers  ought  to  produce  the  supplies  that  they  themselves  need  for 
their  farm  families  and  their  farm  animals  year  by  year.  If  only 
the  farmers  could  or  would  stop  spending  a  million  or  so  for  these 
things  year  by  year,  the  farm  wealth  of  Gaston  would  be  doubled 
within  the  next  five  years. 

Gaston  farmers  cannot  afford  not  to  raise  cotton — in  fact  they  need 
to  raise  more  cotton;  but  while  they  do  it  they  will  be  wise  to  have 
their  barns,  cribs,  pantries,  and  smoke-houses  filled  with  home-raised 
supplies. 

As  for  the  additional  million  and  a  quarter  dollars'  worth  of  such 
products  as  consumers  in  the  towns  of  Gaston  need,  the  farmers 
are  never  likely  to  raise  them  till  city  consumers  and  country  dwellers, 
bankers,  boards  of  trade,  and  farmers  get  together  to  solve  the  local 
market  problem.  The  nearby  farmers  will  produce  these  food  sup- 
plies if  they  can  sell  them  for  ready  cash  at  a  fair  price  and  profit 
in   Gastonia   and   the   other   towns   in   the   county;    and   not   otherwise. 

The  Test  of  Success 

The  local  market  problem,  created  by  the  demand  -for  breadstuffs 
at  high  prices  and  the   failure  of  the  nearby  farmers  to   supply  this 


62  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

demand,  is  perplexing  every  city  in  America.  And  now  that  we 
must  feed  an  impoverished  Europe,  the  solution  of  the  problem  has 
become  a  great  national  and  international  necessity.  The  time  has 
come  when  every  farm  must  be  self-feeding;  and  more,  it  must  pro- 
duce a  surplus.  Every  inch  of  garden  space  around  town  homes  must 
be  cultivated  by  town  dwellers.  Especially  does  President  Wilson 
urge  southern  farmers  to  grow  larger  food  crops,  for  unless  they  do 
they  will  be  a  burden  on  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

The  law  of  markets  is  a  greed  for  gain.  It  is  the  tooth  and  claw 
struggle  for  price  and  profit.  This  primary  law  of  human  nature 
organizes  a  world-wide  market  for  cotton;  and  at  the  same  time  and 
for  the  same  reason  it  denies  producers  and  consumers  of  breadstuffs, 
living  side  by  side  in  the  same  county,  an  even  chance  or  opportunity 
for  direct  dealing  with  mutual  advantage. 

The  Solution  of  the  Problem 

Greed  safely  counts  upon  the  dull  unconcern  of  both  producers  and 
consumers.  Finally  consumers  wake  up  to  the  fact  that  the  cost  of 
living  is  a  national  problem.  And  it  is  intensely  a  local  problem  with 
the  mass  of  wage  earners  in  Gaston  who  as  elsewhere  in  America 
have  failed  to  cultivate  vacant  fields  and  lots  at  odd  hours  as  the  fac- 
tory people  of  Belgium  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  doing.  Con- 
sumers and  producers  are  too  far  apart.  The  cost  of  marketing  is 
now  too  great,  and  the  price  of  food  supplies  is  too  high  to  leave  any 
doubt  about  the  necessity  of  farm  and  garden  production  of  food- 
stuffs in  every   community. 

How  Great? 

How  great  the  cost  of  marketing  is  can  be  shown  from  figures  com- 
piled by  the  Citrus  Fruit  Growers'  Association  of  California.  These 
growers  have  done  everything  in  their  power  to  reduce  the  middle- 
men to  a  minimum  and  pass  fruit  from  producers  to  consumers  with 
as  little  cost  as  possible.  Yet  even  with  all  their  business  skill  they 
have  found  that  the  part  of  the  consumer's  dollar  that  gets  back 
to  the  producer  is  only  twenty-seven  cents.  The  middlemen — pickers, 
transporters,  and  merchants  got  seventy-three  cents  of  the  consumer's 
dollar.  The  hard  fact  about  marketing  is  that  as  a  rule  it  costs  more 
to  get  goods  from  producers  to  consumers  than  it  costs  to  produce 
those  goods;  and  the  greater  the  distance  the  greater  the  cost.  This 
is  especially  true  of  fruit  and  vegetable  marketing.  This  fact  coupled 
with  our  unsurpassed  natural  advantages  of  climate  and  soil  makes 
it  foolish  for  us  to  fail  to  produce  these  things  at  home. 

What  we  want  to  do  is  to  get  the  farmers  of  Gaston  to  produce 
these  things  and  sell  first  to  people  in  Gaston  and  then  to  outsiders. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  63 

The  county  must  keep  its  money  at  home  if  it  wishes  to  accumulate 
wealth  in  accelerated  ratios,  in  town  and  country  regions  alike. 

The  problem  is  to  get  Gaston  producers  and  consumers  together; 
the  principle  of  action  lies  in  co-operation,  and  success  is  achieved 
when  farmers  get  more  for  their  products  and  consumers  get  more 
for  their  "money.  If  farmers  do  not  get  more  for  their  products  and 
at  the  same  time  consumes  do  not  pay  less,  then  the  problem  is  not 
solved,  no  matter  how  elaborate  the  attempt  or  expensive  the  market 
house. 

More  Grain  Crops  Needed 

The  fact  that  Gaston  ranked  82nd  in  North  Carolina  in  corn  pro- 
duction per  person  should  cause  her  to  stop  and  consider  somewhat. 
The  people  in  Gaston  probably  would  not  need  as  much  corn  as  many 
other  counties  in  the  state  for  they  do  not  have  their  proportion  of 
work  animals.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  town  and  mill 
people  have  no  horses,  mules,  or  cattle  for  that  matter.  These  people 
would  not  need  to  have  31  bushels  of  corn  per  inhabitant,  the  average 
needed  in  the  United  States;  but  the  people  in  Gaston  fail  sadly  to 
produce  even  what  they  do  need.  They  produced  only  11  bushels  for 
each  person  in  Gaston  in  1910,  while  the  state  average  was  15  bushels 
and  the  state  deficit  was  16  bushels  per  inhabitant.  It  is  poor  busi- 
ness policy  to  import  corn  when  over  half  the  land  in  Gaston  is 
lying  idle.  That  she  can  produce  corn  abundantly  is  shown  by  the 
rank  of  the  county  in  yield  per  acre  in  1910.  Only  37  counties  pro- 
duced more  bushels  per  acre  in  the  census  year. 

Wheat 

Wheat  and  corn  together  constitute  the  two  chief  grain  crops  the 
county  needs.  At  present  wheat  is  selling  in  Charlotte  at  $2.25  a 
bushel,  and  the  price  in  North  Carolina  is  higher  than  in  any  of 
the  main  wheat  producing  states.  Flour  is  now  selling  at  the  enor- 
mous price  of  $15  dollars  a  barrel,  and  Gaston  as  well  as  other  coun- 
ties in  the  state  is  failing  to  produce  this  year  of'  all  the  years  the 
wheat  that  is  needed  for  home  consumption.  There  is  a  need  for  4 
bushels  of  wheat  per  inhabitant  but  in  1910  Gaston  farmers  produced 
only  1.23  bushels  per  person.  The  deficit  was  102,575  bushels.  This 
year  the  county  faces  as  great  a  wheat  shortage  as  ever  and  as  high 
prices  as  ever  will  prevail.  And  this  at  a  time  when  the  idle  acres 
of  Gaston  number  135,000  or  more! 

3ieais 

In  the  production  of  meat  Gaston  makes  one  of  the  poorest  show- 
ings in  the  state.     The  production  of  livestock  products   in  1910  was 


64  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

only  $10.70  per  person  and  her  rank  was  77th  among  the  100  counties 
of  the  state.  Her  rank  was  61st  in  beef  production  per  person,  the 
amount  produced  being  21.6  pounds  while  the  state  average  was  33.8 
pounds.  Eighty-three  counties  produced  more  poultry  per  person  than 
Gaston.  The  fowls  produced  were  only  4.46  per  inhabitant  while  the 
need  was  for  12  per  inhabitant.  Eighty-three  counties  produced  more 
eggs  per  inhabitant.  But  the  saddest  fact  of  all  is  that  Gaston  took 
92nd  place  in  pork  production  per  person  in  1910.  Her  need  was  for 
122  pounds  per  person,  and  she  produced  only  19  pounds  of  this 
amount.  In  1860  Gaston  had  15,335  hogs  while  in  1910  she  had  only 
6,585.  The  growing  of  hogs  is  equally  important  with  the  growing 
of  cattle.  It  is  the  form  of  livestock  activity  from  Which  the  farmer 
gets  the  quickest  returns;  because  twelve  months  is  sufficient  time  to 
get  returns  from  a  hog,  while  from  two  to  four  years  is  required 
to  get  returns  from  cattle. 

An  expert  in  the  livestock  industry  says:  "My  contention  is  that 
hog  growing  is  the  phase  of  lhres.tock  industry  that  should  be  given 
the  first  attention  by  the  cotton  farmers  in  the  South,  for  the  reason 
that  returns  can  be  had  from  this  kind  of  liveiStock  growing  more 
quickly  than  from  cattle,  and  taken  as  a  whole  the  hog  is  more 
easily  grown  and  handled  than  cattle."  By  the  time  our  farmers  have 
had  experience  with  hogs  for  a  few  years,  they  will  have  absorbed 
enough  livestock  information  to  make  them  better  fitted  for  cattle 
growing. 

Gaston  farmers  can  raise  meat  for  home  consumption  for  less  money 
than  it  costs  them  when  it  is  imported  from  the  West.  This  is  true 
at  ordinary  times,  but  doubly  true  to-day. 

Cooperation  JYecessary 

Producers  alone  cannot  solve  the  local  market  problem.  Success 
calls  for  the  direct  co-operation  of  producers  and  consumers;  and  in 
big  scale  marketing  it  invariably  calls  for  and  depends  upon  the 
credit  accommodation  of  the  local  banks.  If  consumers  are  uncon- 
cerned and  unorganized,  or  if  banks  and  transportation  companies 
are  neglectful  or  hostile,  the  farmers'  chance  of  success  is  reduced 
to  zero.  Success  lies  in  collusion,  not  collision;  in  co-operation,  not 
in  contest. 

Texas  Leads 

Texas  has  taken  a  long  step  forward  in  solving  the  local  market 
problem  on  a  big  scale,  and  one  of  the  many  things  she  does  with  the 
help  of  her  boards  of  trade  in  city  centers  is  to  maintain  free  telephone 
market  information  exchanges  in  charge  of  competent  officials,  whose 
business  it  is  to  furnish  reliable,  disinterested  market  news  to  city 
dwellers  and  farmers  and  to  bring  consumers  and  producers  together 
in  direct   dealings  for  mutual   advantage. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  65 


What  the  Banks  Can  Do 

Texas  banks  are  refusing  to  loan  money  to  supply-merchants  who 
do  a  crop-lien  business  protected  by  cotton  acreage  alone.  They  have 
a  half-and-half  system.  They  stipulate  a  minimum  acreage  which 
must  be  planted  in  foodstuffs,  and  farmers  who  receive  loans  are 
required  to  raise  a  specified  amount  on  this  acreage.  What  they 
call  a  half-and-half  crop-lien  (one-half  cotton  and  one-half  food  and 
feed  crops)  is  the  only  kind  of  crop-lien  the  supply-merchant  can 
borrow  money  on  at  the  bank.  In  short,  the  bankers  are  forcing  the 
supply-merchants  to  force  the  farmers  to  raise  a  sufficiency  of  bread 
and  meat  on  every  farm.  It  is  sound  sense  and  safe  business  policy, 
they  say,  to  keep  in  Texas  the  217  million  dollars  that  have  been 
leaving  the  state  heretofore  year  by  year  to  pay  the  bill  for  imported 
food  supplies. 

This  policy  insures  a  food  producing  farm  civilization,  and  this 
means  prosperity.  It  also  means  safer,  bigger,  better  business  for 
the  supply-merchants  and  bankers. 

Progress  in  Texas 

The  following  comment  is  taken  from  a  report  issued  by  the  Texas 
Bankers'  Association:  "There  have  been  more  hogs,  more  cattle,  more 
poultry,  more  food  for  the  table  and  more  feedstuffs  for  livestock 
produced  in  Texas  this  year  than  in  many  years,  and  the  farmers 
of  the  country  are  in  better  financial  condition  than  they  could  pos- 
sibly have  been  if  they  had  continued  the  one-crop  policy  heretofore 
followed.  A  few  more  years  of  wise  diversification  in  lines  promul- 
gated by  the  Texas  Bankers'  Association  will  place  in  an  independent 
financial  condition  the  farmers  who  follow  the  policy,  and  will  ensure 
a  permanent  continuance  of  progress  in  agriculture  that  will  make  us 
the  richest  section  in  the  United  States." 

"The  bankers  and  merchants,  then,  have  in  their  hands  the  most 
powerful  weapon  in  the  cause  of  sound  agriculture — credit.  So  long 
as  money  is  loaned  on  the  prospect  of  a  single  cash-crop  alone,  so 
long  will  the  average  farmer  be  compelled  to  raise  that  crop  alone, 
with  all  the  attendant  evils  of  such  a  system.  When  credit  is  made 
available  for  other  purposes,  when  cash  markets  are  encouraged,  and 
the  teaching  of  sound  agricultural  practice  fostered,  the  road  to  pros- 
perity is  opened." 

In  North  Carolina 

This  same  system  could  be  put  to  work  in  this  state,  especially  in 
the    cotton    counties   of  the   east   and    along   the    South    Carolina   line 
where  conditions  are  similar  to  those  in  Texas.     We  have  conclusively 
5 


66  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

proved  that  we  cannot  accumulate  farm  wealth  in  largest  measure 
under  our  one-crop,  or  single  crop,  system  of  farming.  We  stay  poor 
while  the  West  grows  rich.  The  bankers  can  do  more  to  solve  this 
problem  in  a  single  year  than  all  other  agencies  are  likely  to  do  in 
a  lifetime;  and  they  can  do  it  almost  by  lifting  or  lowering  of  their 
eyebrows.  They  can  kill  the  crop-lien  by  starvation  better  than  the 
state  can  by  legislation.  The  old-time  crop-lien  means  more  cotton 
and  less  bread  and  meat. 

And  at  the  same  time  Gastonia  and  other  Gaston  towns  must  get 
ready  with  arrangements,  conveniences  and  facilities  for  doing  a 
larger  business  in  home-raised  food  and  feed  supplies. 

One  North  Carolina  bank  lends  money  for  the  purchase  of  breeding 
stock  only  on  condition  that  the  borrower  agrees  to  follow  the  advice 
of  the  county  agricultural  agent  or  the  animal  husbandry  expert  from 
the  agricultural  college.  In  this  way  the  county  agent  becomes  of 
direct  value  to  bankers  and  merchants,  protecting  their  interests  by 
increasing  the  security  of  their  loans  at  the  same  time  that  he  benefits 
farmers  by  increasing  profitable  production.  It  follows  that  the  main- 
tenance of  these  county  agents  should  receive  the  financial  support 
of  all  classes  in  the  community. 

The  Farmers'  End  of  the  Problem 

On  the  other  hand  the  farmers  must  not  only  produce  food  and  feed 
supplies  for  home  consumption,  but  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars' 
worth  more  for  the  city  and  town  consumers  in  Gaston  in  average 
years.  To-day,  the  town  consumers  call  for  three  million  dollars' 
worth  of  home-raised  bread  and  meat.  The  farmers  must  know  more 
about  market  demands.  They  must  not  dump  all  their  food  products 
on  a  small  market  at  one  and  the  same  time.  What  they  offer  for 
sale  in  competition  with  the  big  wide  world  must  look  and  taste  just 
as  good  as  imported  products.  They  must  become  expert  in  picking, 
handling,  grading,  packing  and  crating.  They  must  produce  grain 
and  hay,  meat,  butter,  and  eggs  in  steady  and  reliable  sufficiencies, 
and  stand  ready  to  supply  market  demands  just  as  western  markets 
do  upon  telegraphic  orders.  They  must  can  and  store  vegetables  and 
fruits  that  otherwise  go  to  waste.  They  must  learn  the  arts  of  butch- 
ering, curing  and  sacking  ham,  bacon,  and  shoulders,  fly  and  skipper 
proof  packer-fashion,  and  create  a  steady  year-around  business  in  meat 
products. 

The  blame  at  present  rests  upon  farmers,  bankers,  merchants,  and 
consumers.  In  Gaston  in  1910  the  local  market  problem  in  home- 
raised  products  was  a  two  and  a  third  million  dollar  proposition.  In 
1919  it  is  a  five  million  dollar  proposition.  It  is  worth  solving.  It 
is  worth  the  consideration  of  the  best  intelligence  in  the  county. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  67 

THE  LOCAL  3IARKET  PROBLEM  OF  GASTON 

Based  on  the  1910  Census 

1.    Food  axd  Feed: 

Needed— 37,063  people   @    $84.00 $3,112,292 

5,115  work  animals  @  $39.39 $201,480 

5,212  dairy   cattle    @    $18.55 96,683 

3,589  other  cattle  @  $8.09 29,035 

529  sheep    @    $1.79 947 

8,163  swine  @   $6.69 34,610 

382.755 


Total  food  and  feed  needed $3,496,047 

2.  Food  axd  Feed: 

Produced— Food  and   feed  crops $729,993 

Dairy   products    $127,344 

Poultry  products   115,616 

Honey  and  wax 3,408 

Animals    sold    and    slaughtered 149,417 

$395,785 

Total  food  and  feed  produced $1,125,778 

Shortage  in  home-raised  food  and  feed 2,370,269 

Cotton  and  other  non-food  crop  values 1,055,931 

3.  Distribution  of  Food  axd  Feed  Shortage:  Pounds. 

(1)  Meat  needed   for  37,063  people   @    152   pounds 5,633,576 

produced  1,166  calves  @  at  150  lbs...      174,900 

1,789  cattle   @   350  lbs 626,150 

165,354  poultry   @    3y2   lbs 578,739 

6.863  swine  @   200  lbs 1,373,600 

Total    meat    produced 2,733,389 

Shortage     2,900.187 

Pounds. 

(2)  Butter  needed  for  37,063  people   @   48  lbs 1,779,024 

produced    603,038 

deficit   1,175,986 

Foicls. 

(3)  Fowls  needed  for  37,063  people  @   12  fowls 444,754 

produced     165,354 

deficit    279,400 

Dozen. 

(4)  Eggs  needed  for  37,063  people  @  17%  dozen 648.602 

produced     312,718 

deficit    335,884 


68  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Bushels. 

(5)  Corn  needed  for  37,063  people  @   31  bushels 1,148,953 

produced 410,058 

deficit    738,895 

Bushels. 

(6)  Wheat  needed  for  37,063  people  @   4  bushels 148,252 

produced    45,677 

deficit    102,575 

Tons. 

(7)  Hay  needed  for  5,115  work  animals  @  10  lbs.  per  day.  9,335 

produced    5,220 

deficit    4,115 

HOW  GASTON  RANKS  IN  FOOD  AND  FEED  PRODUCTION 

Based  on  the  1910  Census 

86th  in  Food  and  feed  production  per  person $30 

Needed,  $84.00  per  person;  deficit  $54.00  per  per- 
son. As  long  as  Gaston  sends  out  of  her  borders 
$54.00  per  inhabitant  for  food  she  could  easily 
produce  at  home,  her  farm  wealth  accumulation 
will  remain  small. 

82nd  in  Corn  production  per  person,  bushels 11 

Needed  per  person  per  year,  31  bushels  (for  man 
and  beast) ;  deficit  per  person,  20  bushels.  Total 
deficit  for  Gaston,  738,895  bushels.  State  aver- 
age production,  15  bushels  per  person. 

28th  in  Corn  production,  bushels    410,058 

Robeson  ranked  first  with  1,142,000  bushels. 
Ten-year    increase    in    corn    production,    1900    to 
1909,  was  43  percent,  or  176,000  bushels. 

38th  in  Corn  production  per  acre,  bushels 14 

State  average,  14.3  bushels  per  acre.  Dare  ranked 
first  with  28  bushels. 

39th  in  Wheat  production  per  person,  bushels 1.23 

Needed  4  bushels  per  person;  deficit  per  person, 
2.77  bushels,  or  a  total  deficit  of  102,575  bushels. 
Only  15  counties  in  1910  raised  wheat  surpluses. 
Ten-year  decrease  in  wheat  production  in  Gas- 
ton, 52  percent.  State  average  decrease,  1900-09, 
was  12  percent. 

48th  in  Wheat  production  per  acre,  bushels 7 

State  average,  8  bushels  per  acre.  Wayne  ranked 
first  with  30  bushels  per  acre. 


Gaston   County:  Economic  and  Social  69 

13th  in  Oats  production,  total  crop,  bushels 59,080 

The  oats  raised  amounted  to  2.31  pints  per  work 
animal  per  day;  rank,  15th.  Ten-year  increase 
in  oats  production,  1900-09,  190  percent;  rank  in 
this  particular,  9th. 

16th  in  Hay  and  forage  production,  total  crop,  tons 5,220 

Ten-year  increase,  1900-09,  was  78  percent;  rank, 
41st.  The  hay  and  forage  produced  was  5.6 
pounds  per  work  animal  per  day;  the  need  is 
for  10  pounds  per  day. 

7th  in  Percent  of  farms  buying  feed,  1910  census 17 

Four  hundred  and  eighty-five,  or  about  one-fifth 
of  them  bought  feed  averaging  $38.25  per  farm. 

61st  in  Heef    production    per    person,     pounds 21.16 

State  average,  33.8  pounds. 

92nd  in  Pork  production  per  person,  pounds 19 

State  average,  93  pounds.  State  average  of  hogs 
sold  and  slaughtered,  .47  of  a  hog;  United 
States,  .57;  Iowa,  2.72  hogs.  Needed  for  home 
consumption,  122  pounds  per  person  per  year. 
Deficit,  103  pounds. 

84th  in  Poultry  production  per  person,   fowls 4.46 

Needed  12  fowls  per  person  per  year;  deficit,  7.54 
fowls.     Total   deficit,   279,400   fowls. 

84th  in  Egg  deficit,   dozens 335,900 

Needed  17.5  dozen  per  person  per  year.     Produced 
8.25   dozen,   leaving  a  deficit   of  9.25   dozen   per 
person. 
82nd  in  Increase   in  farm   sales   of  dairy  products,   1900-09, 

percent    38 

Total  sales  in  1910  were  $54,151.  State  increase 
was  146  percent.  Gaston  produced  16  pounds  of 
butter  per  inhabitant  in  1910.  The  average 
amount  needed  was  48  pounds.  Per  capita  de- 
ficit was  32   pounds  per  person. 

77th  in  Livestock  products  per  person $13.00 

Alleghany,  $65.00;    state  average,  $17.00. 

71st  in  Per  capita  crop  production  in  Gaston $48.00 

Total  farm  wealth  produced  was  $65.00  per  person. 

46th  in  Crop  wealth  produced  per  farm  worker $230.00 

90th  in  Bill   for  imported  food   and   feed  supplies $2,378,000 

In  less  than  four  years  the  value  of  such  imported 
supplies  equals  the  farm  wealth  accumulated  in 
71  years  of  history. 


70  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

8th  in  Boys'  Corn  Club  enrollment  in  1915,  reporting 32 

Caldwell  and  Wake  stood  first  with  75  boys  report- 
ing in  each  county.  The  average  per  acre  pro- 
duction by  the  club  boys  in  Gaston  was  44.1 
bushels,  or  three  times  the  average  for  the 
county  at  large.  At  this  rate  the  grown-ups 
might  have  produced  enough  for  home  con- 
sumption and  100,000  bushels  to  sell.  Instead 
they  had  a  deficit  of  741,000  bushels. 

33rd  in  Girls'  Canning  Club,   reporting  in   1916 37 

These  37  girls  prepared  4,715  tins  and  glasses 
of  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  their  profits  aggre- 
gated $946.30.  The  profits  of  the  3,453  canning 
club  girls  in  the  state  for  1916  were  $88,384. 
They  prepared  680,551  tins  and  glasses  of  fruits 
and  vegetables. 

GASTON  COUNTY  LIVESTOCK  1910  CENSUS 

I.  Animal  Units  on  Hand. 
4,349  Mature  work  animals 

100  Yearling  colts    

33  Spring  colts 

4,192  Dairy  cows  . 

3,360  Other  cattle   

4,646  Mature  hogs 

1,939  Spring  pigs    1/10 

394  Mature    sheep    

107  Lambs 1/14  =  8 

62,535  Poultry    1/100  =     625 

Total  animal  units 12,091 

II.  Animal  units  needed  =  237,440  A  -*-  5  =   47,488 

Percent  of  animals  in  a  lightly  stocked  farm  area 25% 

Below  the  level 75% 


Anima 

Z  Units. 

=  4349 

1/2 

=   50 

1/4 

=    8 

=  4192 

1/2 

=  1680 

1/5 

=  929 

1/10 

=  194 

1/7 

=   56 

Note. —  (1)   A  lightly  stocked  area  has  1  animal  unit  for  every  5  acres. 
(2)   An  animal  unit  is  1  work  animal,  1  milk  cow,  2  other 
cattle,  2  yearling  colts,  or  4  spring  colts;    5  hogs  or  10 
pigs;  7  sheep  or  14  lambs;  or  100  laying  hens. 


IX 


Things  to  be  Proud  of  in  Gaston  County 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  mention  all  the  things  that  Gaston  county 
has  to  be  proud  of.  Such  a.  task  would  be  impossible  in  the  brief 
space  of  a  single  chapter.  Gaston  like  every  other  county  has  within 
her  borders  conditions  of  all  kinds.  Some  are  good,  some  are  bad, 
others  are  indifferent.  Let  us  note  a  few  of  the  fine  things  in  Gaston 
county. 

Population 

In  the  census  year,  1910,  Gaston  ranked  9th  among  the  counties 
of  the  state  in  population,  having  within  her  borders  37,063  people. 
Much  of  this  population  is  distributed  among  the  numerous  towns- 
but  not  an  over  proportionate  amount  of  it,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  Gaston  ranks  first  in  density  of  rural  population  with  84.4  people 
to  the  square  mile.  Gaston's  population  is  well  balanced  with  respect 
to  town  and  country  dwellers.  The  prosperous  towns  in  Gaston  are 
not  growing  at  the  expense  of  her  country  regions.  Only  two  counties 
in  the  state  had  greater  increases  in  rural  population  from  1900  to 
1910  than  Gaston.  The  increase  was  34.4  percent,  and  seven-eighths 
of  this  increase  consisted  of  white  people.  The  negroes  are  a  dimin- 
ishing ratio  of  population  in  Gaston,  the  ten-year  decrease  being  3.1 
percent,  Gaston  is  a  county  of  rapidly  increasing  population,  and  it 
is  white,  home-bred,  and  wholly  American — not  a  mongrel  mixture  of 
alien  races  as  in  the  leading  cotton-mill  centers  of  New  England, 
Bristol,  Providence,  and  Middlesex. 

The  towns  of  Gaston  are  growing  rapidly.  They  are  springing  up 
almost  over  night,  largely  at  the  expense  of  the  surrounding  counties. 
Some  of  her  neighboring  counties  lost  in  population,  great  numbers  of 
them  going  to  the  nourishing  towns  and  mill  centers  in  Gaston. 

Gaston  may  well  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  industrial  conditions  in 
her  borders  are  such  as  to  attract  population  from  neighboring  coun- 
ties. 

Assuming  that  Gaston  has  inceased  in  population  as  fast  since  1910 
as  she  increased  during  the  preceding  ten  years,  she  had  within  her 
borders  in  1919  a  few  more  than  48,000  people. 

Gaston  is  not  an  area  of  race  suicide.  Only  twenty-one  counties  of 
the  state  have  a  higher  birth  rate.  Our  rank  in  1910  was  34.8  per 
1,000  of  population  while  the  average  for  the  state  was  31.2  in  1914 
and  for  the  United  States  only  26.6  in  1913. 


72  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Neither  are  the  people  of  Gaston  a  self-destroying  population.  Only 
one  man  in  the  county  committed  suicide  in  1913,  while  in  many  other 
years  not  a  single  case  of  suicide  occurs.  Suicides  are  usually  the 
outcome  of  dissipation,  money  troubles,  unhappy  home  life,  specula- 
tion and  the  like.  Evidently  instable  nerves  and  unhappy  conditions 
are  rare  in  Gaston. 

Wealth 

Gaston  can  boast  of  unusual  wealth,  as  wealth  is  estimated  in  North 
Carolina.  She  is  one  of  the  smallest  counties  in  the  state,  yet  one 
of  the  richest.  Nor  is  the  wealth  of  Gaston  as  unevenly  distributed 
as  one  might  suppose — as  it  usually  is  in  industrial  areas.  For  in- 
stance, Gaston  ranks  16th  in  total  farm  wealth,  and  bear  in  mind,  she 
is  only  71st  in  size  in  North  Carolina.  She  has  not  built  her  great 
textile  plants  at  the  expense  of  the  farm  regions.  Indeed,  she  was  far 
advanced  in  agriculture  before  her  textile  mills  became  prominent,  and 
agriculture  continues  to  play  an  important  part  in  her  life.  This  is 
strongly  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  Gaston  gained  165  percent  in  farm 
wealth  from  1900  to  1910,  and  only  16  counties  made  more  rapid  in- 
crease. Her  total  farm  wealth  in  1910,  the  last  census  period,  was 
$8,628,686  and  only  15  counties  were  wealthier  in  this  respect  though 
70  were  larger. 

Then  too,  the  people  of  Gaston  country  regions  show  a  greater 
willingness  to  list  their  farm  properties  at  something  like  their  census 
values  than  91  other  counties  of  the  state.  Only-  six  counties  put  their 
farm  properties  on  the  tax  books  at  a  higher  ratio  of  census  values. 
A  county  can  easily  have  a  low  tax  rate  on  farm  properties  when  this 
condition  exists. 

Gaston  has  made  rapid  progress  in  taxable  wealth,  and  the  total 
now  reaches  a  large  figure.  In  1918  she  had  a  grand  total  of  property 
listed  for  taxation  amounting  to  $21,068,775  and  only  seven  counties 
in  the  state  had  larger  totals.  Gaston  to-day  is  making  more  rapid 
progress  in  taxable  wealth  than  ever  before  in  her  history.  During 
the  ten-year  period  1908-1918,  her  taxables  almost  doubled.  That  is 
to  say,  in  ten  years  her  taxable  wealth  increased  almost  as  much  as 
all  her  properties  listed  and  assessed  for  taxation  amounted  to  in  1908. 
At  this  rate  only  five  years  hence,  1925,  will  find  Gaston  ranking  second 
in  wealth  among  the  counties  of  the  state,  or  first  it  may  be. 

Gaston  with  her  numerous  cotton  mill  towns  has  few  superiors  in 
the  production  of  wealth.  She  has  a  rare  combination  of  conditions 
favorable  to  the  steady  and  continuing  creation  of  new  wealth;  a 
densely  settled  farm  area,  a  prosperous  agricultural  region  supporting 
thriving  towns  devoted  mainly  to  manufacture.  As  long  as  the  county 
preserves  and  promotes  her  agricultural  interests  she  will  continue  to 
have  a  distinct  advantage  over  competing  counties  which  are  destroy- 
ing their  surrounding  farm  regions  in  order  to  build  up  mill  centers. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  73 

Banking 

In  1915  Gaston  ranked  32nd  in  combined  bank  stock  with  $7.12  per 
inhabitant,  and  19th  in  bank  loans  and  discounts,  with  $43.70  per 
inhabitant.  In  1918  her  bank  account  savings  amounted  to  $1,006,659 
or  $22  per  inhabitant,  and  in  this  particular  26  counties  made  a  better 
showing.  It  will  be  seen  that  Gaston's  rank  on  these  dates  is  far 
behind  what  might  have  been  expected  of  a  county  ranking  7th  in 
total  taxables  and  first  as  a  textile  center. 

However,  the  combined  totals  of  the  last  figures  in  1918  showed  that 
Gaston  made  three-year  gains  of  21  percent  in  invested  bank  capital, 
100  percent  in  total  deposits,  and  225  percent  in  bank  account  savings. 
These  figures  mean  that  banking  in  Gaston  is  rapidly  climbing  to  the 
top  of  the  column.  Nevertheless,  the  banking  facilities  of  Gaston 
probably  fall  short  of  the  local  demands  of  business,  as  in  Winston- 
Salem  and  Durham.  There  is  ample  opportunity  for  immense  expan- 
sion in  the  business  of  banking  in  Gaston.  The  First  National  Bank 
of  Gastonia  is  seizing  upon  it.  This  bank  has  just  moved  into  a  new 
ten-story,  half  million  dollar  building.  The  building  projects  of  Gas- 
tonia all  told  run  into  ten  million  dollars  in  1920. 

Agriculture 

Gaston  may  congratulate  herself  because  while  establishing  a  textile 
industry  that  leads  the  South  she  has  pursued  the  wise  policy  of 
never  allowing  her  agricultural  interests  to  lag.  The  far-seeing  men 
of  the  county  have  been  steadily  at  the  heels  of  the  farmers  urging 
them  on  to  the  development  of  a  wholesome,  healthy,  and  prosperous 
agricultural  life.  A  group  of  a  half-dozen  public-spirited  men  or 
women  is  always  to  be  found  in  any  progressive  county.  This  group 
has  been  conspicuously  active  in  Gaston. 

However,  do  not  let  us  get  the  idea  that  Gaston  is  a  model  agricul- 
tural county.  Far  from  it.  But  being  so  highly  developed  in  the 
textile  industry,   she  makes  a  very  favorable  showing   in   many  ways. 

Probably  the  most  striking  fact  discovered  in  this  particular  is 
Gaston's  high  rank  in  total  farm  wealth.  She  is  one  of  the  smallest 
counties  of  the  state,  yet  she  had  greater  farm  wealth  in  1910  than 
any  one  of  85  other  counties  in  the  state.  This  is  a  remarkable  fact. 
And  she  is  gaining  in  farm  wealth  with  amazing  rapidity.  In  the 
ten-year  period  from  1900  to  1910  there  was  an  increase  in  farm  prop- 
erties amounting  to  165  per  cent.  Only  16  counties  made  greater  gains. 
The  total  farm  wealth,  land,  buildings,  livestock,  and  farm  implements, 
amounted  to  $8,62S,686  according  to  census  values,  which,  by  the  way, 
are  always  lower  than  current  market  prices.  Since  1910  there  have 
been  wonderful  gains  and  to-day,  1919,  the  total  of  farm  wealth  in 
Gaston  is  well  up  and  round  $20,000,000. 


74  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Land  and  Farms 

The  average  farmer  in  Gaston  cultivates  only  35.6  acres  of  land. 
The  size  of  cultivated  farms  is  larger  in  only  38  counties.  The  point 
is,  we  have  no  cause  to  worry  about  the  lack  of  land,  with  136,000 
uncultivated  acres  in  the  county.  We  have  abundance  of  unused  farm 
land,  and  we  need  a  thousand  or  more  new  farm  families  to  bring  it 
under  cultivation.  There  is  ample  elbow  room  in  Gaston  for  home- 
seeking  farmers. 

The  county  is  a  land  of  small  farmers  and  the  problem  of  one  man 
or  firm  holding  large  tracts  for  speculation  is  almost  unknown.  There 
is  no  farm  of  more  than  1,000  acres  in  the  county  and  only  16  com- 
prise more  than  500  acres.  It  might  indeed  be  said  that  farms  in 
Gaston  are,  as  a  rule,  too  small  for  profitable  farming.  There  are 
about  600  farms  in  the  county  of  the  right  size  for  diversified  cropping, 
improved  farm  machinery,  and  livestock  farming. 

The  county  may  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  farmers  of  Gaston 
have  awakened  to  the  need  of  cattle  and  their  importance  on  every 
farm.  The  saddest  thing  in  our  agricultural  life  in  this  state  is  the 
amazingly  small  part  cattle  and  other  forms  of  livestock  play  on  our 
farms.  Our  farms  are  too  lightly  stocked  and  will  continue  to  be 
so  as  long  as  the  craze  for  cotton  or  tobacco  lasts.  We  have  not  been 
wise  in  our  farm  practices,  especially  during  the  last  two  decades. 
We  might  by  now  have  been  one  of  the  richest  farm  regions  on  earth 
had  we  been  self-feeding  and  self-financing  in  our  farm  regions.  We 
have  sent  out  too  much  money  for  grain,  hay,  and  forage,  beef,  pork, 
and  mutton,  butter,  cheese  and  canned  goods  that  could  have  been 
produced  at  home.  Gaston  has  been  guilty  along  with  all  the  rest 
of  the  counties  of  the  state,  but  she  is  awakening  earlier  than  most 
of  them.  She  has  made  gains  in  the  number  and  breed  of  cattle.  Only 
20  counties  made  more  rapid  gains  in  livestock  from  1900  to  1910  than 
Gaston.  Her  increase  was  27  percent  while  the  state  average  increase 
was  less  than  half  that  ratio.  In  1910  only  9  counties  had  more  cattle 
per  1,000  acres,  her  number  being  37.  She  may  be  proud  of  her  gains 
in  cattle,  and  the  last  census  period,  it  is  hoped,  will  show  even  greater 
increases.  However,  in  swine,  poultry,  and  sheep  we  are  playing  a 
losing  game  for  there  was  an  actual  decrease  of  3  percent  in  swine 
over  1900,  and  a  decrease  of  64  percent  in  sheep  from  1900-1910.  All 
these  forms  of  livestock  should  play  an  important  role  on  Gaston 
county  farms,  for  they  lessen  fertilizer  bills,  add  fertility  to  soils, 
feed  farm  families  in  large  part,  and  leave  cotton  to  form  a  main 
source  of  cash  income.  A  permanently  prosperous  farm  life  is  im- 
possible wherever  there  is  a  dearth  of  livestock. 

Gaston  may  also  be  proud  of  her  high  rank  in  the  annual  produc- 
tion of  farm  wealth  which  in  1910  amounted  to  $2,179,000.  Only  21 
counties    produced    a   greater   total.      The    same   quantity   of    products 


Gaston.  County:  Economic  and  Social  75 

this  year  would  be  worth  around  $5,000,000,  a  neat  sum  for  a  textile 
county. 

Scotchmen  claim  that  oats  when  fed  to  man  or  beast  produce  supe- 
rior qualities  in  both.  The  Scotch  are  a  large  element  of  the  popu- 
lation in  Gaston,  which  goes  far  toward  explaining  why  the  county 
ranks  ahead  of  87  others  in  oats  production.  The  crop  of  1910 
amounted  to  59,000  bushels,  which  was  nearly  a  three-fold  increase 
since  1860.  The  need  is  for  more  and  larger  grain  crops  of  all  sorts. 
Livestock  farming  calls  for  grain,  hay  and  forage  in  ample  measure. 

Transportation 

Perhaps  no  county  in  North  Carolina  has  made  more  wonderful 
progress  in  agricultural,  educational,  and  industrial  development 
within  the  last  25  years  than  Gaston.  This  has  been  made  possible 
because  of  her  advantageous  transporation  facilities. 

Few  counties  of  the  state  are  more  abundantly  supplied  with  rail- 
roads and  electric  lines.  The  main  line  of  the  Southern  Railway 
crosses  the  county  east  and  west,  the  Carolina  and  Northwestern 
Railway  traverses  it  north  and  south;  the  Seaboard  Air  Line  Railway 
enters  the  county  on  the  east  side  at  Mt.  Holly  and  swings  north- 
westward, leaving  the  county  near  Alexis,  and  again  enters  it  further 
west  and  crosses  the  northwest  corner,  passing  through  Cherryville. 
Besides  these  there  is  the  Piedmont  and  Northern  electric  line  that 
crosses  the  county  in  an  east-west  direction  and  does  good  business 
hauling  both  passengers  and  freight.  No  farm  in  the  county  is  more 
than  8  miles  from  a  railroad  station. 

The  county  has  76  miles  of  macadam  roads,  16  miles  of  asphalt 
roads,  and  250  miles  of  sand-clay  roads  that  are  as  good  as  are  to  be 
found  in  many  counties  over  the  entire  state.  The  cross  country  roads 
are  not  so  good  and  become  badly  cut  up  during  the  winter  months. 

Manufacture 

Gaston  is  nationally  famous  as  a  cotton  textile  center.  She  has 
more  cotton  mills  than  any  other  county  in  the  United  States  and 
more  active  spindles  than  any  other  county  in  the  South.  Only  three 
counties  in  New  England  have  more  spindles.  Named  in  order  of 
importance  they  are:  Bristol  county,  Massachusetts,  Providence 
county,  Rhode  Island,  and  Middlesex  county,  Massachusetts.  There 
are  90  mills  and  1,012,696  spindles  in  Gaston  county.  Her  next  nearest 
competitor  in  the  South  is  Greenville  county,  South  Carolina,  with 
758,144   spindles. 

Two  main  reasons  have  contributed  to  the  wonderful  success  of 
Gaston's  mills.  First,  she  is  located  in  a  cotton  growing  territory  and 
the  cost  of  raw  material  is  not  so  great  as  it  is  to  mills  in  the  North. 


76  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Second,  these  mills  are  situated  in  the  densest  rural-population  area, 
in  the  state.  Her  people  together  with  the  great  numbers  drawn 
from  adjoining  counties,  furnish  adequate  labor  supply  to  run  the 
mills.  Cotton  mills  have  been  found  to  be  practical  and  successful 
in  the  South  in  densely  populated  areas  of  white  tenant  farmers. 
Elsewhere  cotton  mills  are  a  hazardous  venture.  Counties  with  sparse 
white  tenant  populations  in  this  and  other  states  have  few  or  no 
factories  nor  is  it  possible  to  maintain  such  factories  successfully  in 
such  areas.  Gaston  being  the  most  densely  populated  rural  county 
in  this  state  has,  other  conditions  being  equal,  the  best  chance  to 
operate  mills  successfully.  When  competent  mill  managements  main- 
tain wholesome  mill  and  village  conditions,  pay  reasonable  wages,  and 
evidence  a  human  interest  in  their  employes  success  is  easily  assured 
almost  anywhere  in  a  well  defined  area  of  North  Carolina.  The  labor, 
supply  is  practically  unlimited  in  this  area  which  lies  like  a  reap  hook, 
the  handle  reaching  from  Lincoln  and  Rutherford  eastward  to  Meck- 
lenburg, and  the  blade  following  the  curve  of  the  Southern  Railway 
from  Charlotte  to  Raleigh  and  on  to  Selma.  There  are  fewer  than 
75,000  cotton  mill  operatives  in  North  Carolina;  but  there  are  200,000 
white  tenant  farmers  in  North  Carolina.  Our  labor  supply  is  equal 
to  a  hundred   percent  increase  in  spindles  and  looms. 

Towns 

Gaston  has  within  her  borders  more  towns  than  any  other  county  in 
North  Carolina.  They  owe  their  existence  mainly  to  the  mill  business. 
Most  of  the  towns  are  small  and  consist  almost  entirely  of  mill  peo- 
ple who  are  enabled  to  exist  because  of  the  mills  in  the  village.  Gas- 
tonia,  the  largest  town  in  the  county,  has  a  population  of  about  15,000. 
It  is  the  county  seat  and  chief  commercial  center.  It  has  within  its 
limits  41  cotton  mills — far  more  than  any  other  town  or  city  in  the 
state.  It  is  a  brisk,  busy  little  city,  with  handsome  church  buildings, 
and  a  high  school  building  in  sight,  to  cost  half  a  million  dollars. 
Everything  and  everybody  in  Gastonia  is  vibrant  with  business. 

A  large  part  of  the  busness  activities  of  Gastonia  is  due  to  her 
efficient  Chamber  of  Commerce.  It  is  thoroughly  wide-awake  and 
active  and  has  been  well  managed  in  the  past.  Its  chief  activity  is 
to  advertise  the  advantages  offered  in  Gastonia  and  Gaston  county.  It 
has  been  instrumental  in  bringing  in  many  newcomers  and  new  con- 
cerns. The  business  men  of  the  city  are  lined  up  behind  this  organ- 
ization and  are  cognizant  of  its  possibilities. 

Belmont,  Cherryville,  Dallas,  Mt.  Holly,  Bessemer  City,  Lowell,  and 
McAdenville  are  all  thriving  towns.  Kings  Mountain,  a  prosperous 
town,  lies  partly  in  Gaston  county.  The  smaller  towns  of  Highshoals. 
Stanley,  Mayworth,  and  Worth  have  each  one  or  more  cotton  mills. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  77 

Where  Gaston  Leads 

1st  in  Number  of  cotton  mills,  1920 90 

Leads  the  South  and  the  United  States. 

1st  in  Active    spindles    1,012,606 

Leads  the  South,   and  ranks   4th  in  this   particular 
in  the  United  States. 
1st  in  Density   of   rural   population,    people   to   the    square 

mile  in  1910 84.4 

9th  in  Population,   1910    37,063 

3rd  in  Rural  population  increase  1900-10,  percent 34.4 

22nd  in  Birth  rate  per  1,000  population,  1914 34.8 

16th  in  Total  farm  wealth,  1910  census $8,628,686 

17th  in  Farm  wealth  increase,  1900  to  1910,  percent 165 

State  average,  130.5  percent. 
31st   in  Increase  in  value  of  domestic  animals,  1900-10  per- 
cent      118 

8th  in  Total  taxable  property  in  1918 $21,068,775 

7th  in  Tax  value  of  farm  lands  compared  with  the  census 

value,  percent   73 

10th  in  Professional  taxes  paid  in  1917 $418.00 

Eighty-three  lawyers,  doctors,  photographers,  den- 
tists, and  the  like  in  Gaston. 

20th  in  Improved  roads,  1914,  percent  improved 31 

12th  in  Per  capita  investment  in  school  property,  1915-16..  $6.24 
19th  in  Taxes  paid  into  the  state  treasury  in  excess  of  pen- 
sions and  school  money  received,    1914.... $20,260 

Eleven  counties,  all  in  the  western  part  of  the  state, 
are  dependent. 
23rd  in  Banks  in  1914,  ten  in  number,  one  bank  for  the  fol- 
lowing number  of   people 4,004 

State  average,  one  bank  for  every  4,800  people. 
United  States  average,  one  bank  for  every  3,700 
people.  Twelve  banks  in  1918  with  invested  capi- 
tal of  $807,572,  and  deposits  amounting  to  $4,334,- 
184. 

20th  in  Per   capita   bank    resources,    1915 $64.20 

Total  resources,  $2,689,000;  state  per  capita,  $62.25. 
New  Hanover  led  with  $432  per  capita. 

32nd  in  Per  capita  bank  capital,   1915 $7.12 

Ten  banks  with  total  capital  of  $330,000.  State  per 
capita.  $4.80;   New  Hanover  led  with  $40.65. 

19th  in  Per  capita  bank  loans  and  discounts,   1915 $43.70 

Total  bank  loans  and  discounts,  $1,888,519.  State 
per  capita,  $45. 


78  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

14th  in  Amount    of    land    under    cultivation;     acres    under 

cultivation    101,696 

Idle  land,  135,744  acres,  or  57.2  percent  of  the  total 
area.  Reserving  50,000  acres  for  wood  lot  pur- 
poses and  allowing  75  acres  to  each  family,  there 
is  room   for   1,140   new  farm   families   in  Gaston. 

10th  in  Cattle  per  1,000  acres,  1910  census 37 

State  average,   23;    United   States  average,   61. 

21st  in  Cattle  increase,    1900-10,   percent 27 

State  average  increase,  12  percent.  Caldwell  in- 
creased 62  percent. 

28th  in  Investment  in  farm  implements  per  acre $2.47 

State   average,   $2.10;    United   States  average,  $2.52. 
20th  in  Horsepower;     one    work-animal    for    the    following 

number  of  acres 22.69 

State  average,  25.85;    United  States  average,  19.81. 

22nd  in  Annual  farm  wealth  produced,  1910 $2,179,082 

This  total  covers  both  crops  and  animal  products. 

13th  in.  Oats  production,  total  crop,  bushels 59,080 

The   oats   raised    amounted   to    only    2.31    pints   per 
work^animal  per  day. 
9th  in  Increase  in  oats  production,  1900-10,  percent 190 


X 
Gaston's  Problems  and  Their  Solution 

In  the  preceding  chapter  a  few  of  the  many  things  Gaston  can  pride 
herself  in  possessing  have  been  enumerated.  Every  citizen  takes 
pleasure  in  telling  of  the  things  in  which  his  county  leads  or  makes 
a  capital  showing.  Hut  it  is  just  as  important  to  consider  the  weak- 
nesses of  a  county  and  to  devise  remedies  for  their  cure.  It  is  not 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  point  out  the  things  of  which  Gaston 
is  proud,  but  rather  the  ills  that  challenge  patriotic  concern  and  action. 
A  few  remedies  are  suggested  here.  For  the  most  part  the  remedies 
for  Gaston  county  deficiencies  must  be  thought  out  and  applied  by 
the  home  students  and  the  home  folks — the  public-spirited  citizens 
of  Gaston.  A  score  or  more  such  men  and  women  are  seeking  to 
strengthen  the  weak  places  in  Gaston  county  civilization.  They  have 
accomplished  much  in  the  past,  and  will  accomplish  vastly  more  in 
the  future  should  they  combine  their  ideas  and  energies  and  act 
in  intelligent,  hearty  accord.  The  far-sighted  and  public-spirited 
Superintendent  of  Schools  is  endeavoring  to  give  the  people  of  the 
county  the  best  of  opportunities.  And  it  is  education  of  the  right 
sort  that  strikes  at  the  root  of  community  ills.  A  few  individuals  with 
rare  native  endowments  may  prosper  with  little  or  no  education,  but 
not  so  with  a  whole  community  or  county.  No  community  can  ever 
hope  to  rise  unless  it  lifts  all  the  people  to  the  highest  possible  levels 
of  culture,  taste,  and  skill. 

Public   School  Education 

1.  The  level  of  intelligence  in  a  community  is  fairly  well  measured 
by  the  percent  of  school  attendance  of  children  of  school  age,  and  the 
number  of  illiterate  people  in  the  community.  In  both  of  these  par- 
ticulars Gaston  makes  a  poor  showing.  There  are  69  counties  in  the 
state  that  have  a  smaller  percent  of  illiterates  10  years  of  age  and 
over.  The  state  average  of  white  illiteracy  is  nearly  three  times  the 
ratio  for  the  United  States,  and  the  rate  of  Gaston  is  two  percent 
higher  than  that  of  the  state.  One  white  person  in  every  seven,  10 
years  old  and  over  in  Gaston,  was  illiterate  in  1910.  The  illiterate 
white  voters  of  Gaston  numbered  879  in  the  last  census  year.  They 
were  14  percent  of  all  the  white  voters  of  the  county.  These  men  can 
neither  read  their  ballots  nor  write  their  names,  nevertheless  they 
have  the  right  to  vote. 

The  number  of  illiterates  is  in  direct  ratio  to  non-school  attend- 
ance. Gaston  ranks  low  in  the  school  attendance  of  both  races.  In 
1910  only  72.7  percent  of  the  white  children  6  to  14  years  of  age  went 
to  school  at   all.     IMore  than  a  fourth   of  the   white   children   of  these 


80  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

ages  did  not  go  to  school  for  so  much  as  a  single  day — 1,682  of  them 
in  all.  It  is  unwise  for  children  of  tender  age  to  be  kept  out  of  school 
and  allowed  to  work  in  cotton  mills,  except  in  cases  of  dire  necessity, 
and  such  cases  are  few  in  Gaston.  Every  child  who  is  kept  out  Of 
school  suffers  a  definite  loss  in  his  future  earning  power.  It  is  said 
by  educational  authorities  that  each  day  spent  in  school  will  in  after 
years  net  the  student  nine  dollars  in  money.  It  is  a  good  policy  to 
invest  time  in  education.  But  this  is  the  least  value  of  schooling. 
The  true  value  and  worth  comes  from  being  trained  to  think  sanely 
and  to  act  wisely  on  one's  own  initiative.  The  ignorant  man  is  bound 
to  be  the  physical  slave  of  the  man  with  an  intelligent  brain.  He  is 
destined  to  drag  out  a  weary  existence  eating  the  bread  earned  by 
the  sweat  of  his  face.  Ignorant  people  retard  progress  in  any  com- 
munity and  wisdom  demands  that  every  member  of  it  be  educated. 
Gaston  is  spending  money  for  education  more  freely  than  the  average 
county  but  she  has  not  heretofore  been  enforcing  the  school  attend- 
ance laws  of  the  state,  and  is  therefore  not  getting  full  value  for 
every  dollar  she  spends  on  public  education. 

2.  Gaston  ranks  well  when  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  state  in 
average  salaries  paid  white  rural  teachers  but  not  so  with  respect  to 
colored  teachers.  The  average  annual  pay  of  negro  teachers  about 
equals  20  days'  pay  of  the  most  ignorant  negro  working  in  a  shipyard 
or  a  brick  plant. 

A  determined  effort  should  be  made  in  Gaston  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  local  tax  districts.  In  1914  only  14  of  the  64  school  districts 
levied  a  local  tax  for  school  support.  This  helps  to  account  for  the 
low  expenditure  of  $7.37  per  $1,000  of  taxable  property.  In  1918  only 
19  of  the  67  rural  white  school  districts  levied  a  local  school  tax. 
Every  school  district  should  be  a  local  tax  district.  It  is  so  in  Dare, 
the  poorest  county  in  the  state.  Only  so  may  a  larger  school  fund 
be  obtained  and  only  so  can  the  interest  of  the  community  in  educa- 
tion be  stimulated.  The  people  who  levy  a  special  tax  on  themselves 
are  always  the  people  who  keep  their  children  in  school  the  greatest 
number  of  days. 

3.  Gaston  needs  more  consolidated  schools.  Fifty-four  percent  of  the 
schools  were  one-teacher  schools  in  1914,  and  the  same  percent  holds 
for  1918.  No  progress  in  consolidation  appears  during  these  four 
years.  This  would  not  be  so  bad  in  one  of  the  sparsely  settled  coun- 
ties of  the  Tidewater  country,  but  Gaston  has  the  densest  rural  popu- 
lation in  the  state,  and  could  most  easily  lead  in  this  kind  of  modern 
progress.  One-teacher  schools  cannot  be  as  efficient  as  consolidated 
schools  in  a  thickly  settled  rural  county.  Instead  of  67  white  country 
schools,  it  would  be  wise  to  redistrict  the  county  and  establish  not 
more  than  20  or  25  strong  consolidated  schools  with  six  or  seven 
teachers  each.    The  pupils  at  a  distance  could  be  safely  transported  in 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  81 

motor  car  trucks  as  in  Edgecombe,  Wake,  and  Orange.  Family  interest 
in  small  nearby  schools  ought  to  give  way  to  community  welfare  in 
large,  well  equipped,  and  well  supervised  schools  capable  of  serving 
effectively  the  needs  of  the  various  country  communities. 

4.  Gaston  does  not  rank  well  in  church  membership.  Only  58  per- 
cent of  her  people,  10  years  old  and  over,  were  on  the  rolls  of  any 
church  in  1916;  and  56  counties  made  a  better  showing.  The  people 
of  these  ages  not  on  church  rolls  numbered  12,938.  The  deadliest 
menaces  to  country  churches  are  farm  tenancy,  near-illiteracy,  and 
sheer  illiteracy.  The  curing  of  illiteracy  is  primarily  a  country  church 
problem,  and  in  self-defense  if  for  no  other  reason  the  country  churches 
must  help  to  solve  it.  Churches  do  not  prosper  as  a  rule  in  regions 
blighted  by  farm  tenancy  and  illiteracy.  This  outstanding  fact  has 
been  proved  beyond  debate  by  the  researches  of  the  department  of 
Rural  Social  Science  at  the  University. 

Farm  System 

1.  The  tables  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  show  that  Gaston  does  not 
possess  a  well-balanced  farm  system.  Gaston  county  farmers  do  not 
grow  too  much  cotton  but  they  do  not  produce  food  and  feed  supplies 
in  sufficient  abundance.  Gaston  is  not  a  self-feeding  and  therefore 
cannot  be  a  self-financing  farm  community.  It  was  not  so  in  the 
census  year  nor  is  it  so  now.  The  money  sent  out  of  the  county  for 
food  and  feed  supplies  in  1910  amounted  to  two  and  a  third  million 
dollars.  In  less  than  four  years  a  sum  is  spent  for  food  and  feed 
supplies  that  equals  the  farm  wealth  accumulated  in  Gaston  during 
her  entire  history.  Gaston  needs  to  produce  more  feed  for  her  farm 
animals,  her  farm  families,  and  her  mill  centers.  We  may  add  that 
in  1919  something  like  five  million  dollars  went  out  of  the  county  to 
pay  for  bread  and  meat  that  could  have  been  produced  at  home. 

When  these  millions  slip  through  the  fingers  of  her  farmers  year 
by  year,  her  accumulation  of  farm  wealth  will  be  slow  and  the  totals 
saved  will  be  small.  In  1910  the  per  capita  country  wealth  of  Gaston 
was  only  $275  and  the  average  for  the  state  was  the  meager  sum  of 
$322.  The  average  for  the  United  States  was  $994,  and  for  Iowa,  a 
self-feeding  farm  civilization,  was  $3,386.  "Bear  in  mind  that  the 
self-sustaining,  self-protecting,  self-elevating  abilities  of  a  community 
are  based  (1)  upon  its  stored  up  wealth,  and  (2)  upon  the  willingness 
of  the  community  to  convert  its  wealth  into  weal,  its  wealth  into 
commonwealth,  and  its  commonwealth  into  commonweal." 

2.  Gaston  should  change  her  farm  system  from  tenancy  and  absen- 
tee landlordism  to  a  home-and-farm-ownership  basis.  Almost  exactly 
one-half  or  forty-nine  percent  of  all  Gaston  farmers  are  tenants.  They 
do  not  own  the  roofs  they  live  under  or  the  fields  they  labor  in,  and 

6 


82  •  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

therefore  they  cannot  develop  into  the  highest  type  of  citizenship. 
Their  interest  in  the  land  and  the  community  usually  extends  over 
a  period  of  one  year.  From  a  third  to  a  fourth  of  them  move  every 
year.  They  rarely  take  an  interest  in  the  condition  of  the  house  they 
live  in,  or  the  field  they  cultivate,  or,  worst  of  all,  in  the  welfare  of 
the  community  in  which  they  live.  What  interest  could  they  have, 
when  the  chances  are  they  will  be  in  a  new  locality  the  next  year? 
Their  interest  in  better  schools,  better  churches  and  Sunday  schools, 
better  roads,  better  law  and  order,  and  better  community  conditions  in 
general  is  faint  and  feeble,  as  a  rule.  They  live  a  careless,  lax  exist- 
ence at  variance  with  the  civic  ideals  of  the  neighborhood.  They  are 
racked  with  suspicion  of  being  cheated  and  ready  for  trouble  with 
their  landlords.  The  permanent  prosperity  of  a  community  depends 
fundamentally  on  home-  and  farm-ownership.  Intelligent  citizens, 
bankers,  merchants,  and  farmers  should  do  their  utmost  to  increase 
the  ownership  of  farms  in  country  regions  and  of  homes  in  mill  cen- 
ters. The  Standard  Oil  Company  has  definitely  entered  upon  this 
policy  for  its  employes.  It  is  wisely  casting  an  anchor  to  the  wind- 
ward in  the  stormy  days  ahead.  The  R.  J.  Reynolds  Company  is  fol- 
lowing suit;  Home  ownership  by  mill  and  factory  operatives  is  a 
policy  that  the  mill  owners  of  Gaston  can  afford  to  think  through. 

3.  Gaston  ranks  well  in  the  ratio  of  land  under  cultivation,  but  still 
there  are  more  than  135  thousand  acres  lying  idle  in  the  county. 
Less  than  43  percent  of  the  land  was  under  cultivation  in  1910.  Re- 
serving 50,000  acres  for  wood-lot  purposes  and  allowing  75  acres  to 
each  family  there  is  room  for  1,140  new  farm  families  in  Gaston!  An 
increase  of  around  50  percent  in  farm  population  and  a  safely  balanced 
farm  system  by  small  home-owning  farmers  would  mean  better  schools, 
better  roads,  greater  prosperity,  better  business  for  trade  centers,  and 
more  social  life  and  liveliness  in  the  country  regions. 

More  Livestock  in  Gaston 

In  cattle  per  1,000  acres,  Gaston  makes  a  good  showing  when  com- 
pared with  the  other  counties  of  the  state;  but  in  nearly  all  other 
forms  of  livestock  Gaston  fails  to  make  a  creditable  shoAving.  The 
county  is  70  percent  below  the  level  of  even  a  lightly  stocked  farm 
area.  There  is  room  for  a  threefold  increase  in  farm  animals.  She 
suffered  absolute  loss  in  the  number  of  poultry,  swine,  and  sheep 
during  the  ten-year  period  from  1900  to  1910,  and  still  greater  relative 
decreases  between  1860  and  1910.  Poultry  and  swine  are  the  two 
cheapest  forms  of  meat  that  any  farmer  can  provide,  for  they  can  be 
fed  and  fattened  largely  on  farm  surpluses  and  wastes.  Poultry  on 
the  farm  is  practically  all  profit.  The  general  high  level  'of  prices 
for   pork,   poultry,   and   eggs   for   many  years   to   come   ought   to   stir 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  83 

Gaston  county  farmers  into  activity  in  these  directions.  But  more 
than  this.  The  abiding  prosperity  of  Gaston  as  a  combined  farm  and 
city  civilization  depends  upon  safe  and  sane  livestock  farming.  Her 
numerous  towns  must  have  meat  and  milk,  butter  and  eggs.  Gaston 
can  accumulate  wealth  in  abundance  by  producing  these  commodities 
at  home.  She  needs  to  establish  co-operative  creameries  and  to  form 
closer  business  relationships  between  country  producers  and  city  con- 
sumers. Her  idle  acres  could  be  turned  into  profitable  pastures  if 
sown  in  grasses  and  clovers.  She  needs  to  import  the  best  breeds  of 
livestock,  and  to  establish  her  livestock  farming  on  a  sound  basis  at 
the  very  start.     Scrubs  and  runts  ought  to  disappear. 

Her  farm-life  school  and  farm  demonstration  agent  are  invaluable 
helpers  in  establishing  a  safely  balanced,  prosperous  agriculture  in 
Gaston.  They  need  to  be  supported  and  consulted.  It  will  pay  busi- 
ness men  and  farmers  to  co-operate  with  them  heartily.  It  will  take 
a  long  time  to  bring  about  any  very  great  change  in  the  farm  system 
of  Gaston,  but  there  is  no  need  for  delay  in  making  a  beginning.  In- 
deed a  beginning  has  already  been  made  and  the  census  just  closing 
will  probably  show  marked  improvements  in  the  farm  activities  of 
the  county. 

First  of  all,  the  farms  of  Gaston  must  be  self-feeding,  at  least  so 
far  as  the  standard  staple  food  and  feed  crops  are  concerned.  They 
have  not  been  so  in  the  past  nor  are  they  now.  The  philosophy  Henry 
Grady  uttered  years  ago  should  be  followed  in  Gaston  to-day.  He 
said:  "When  every  farmer  in  the  South  shall  eat  bread  from  his  own 
fields  and  meat  from  his  own  pantries,  and,  disturbed  by  no  condition 
and  enslaved  by  no  debt,  shall,  amid  his  teeming  orchards  and  vine- 
yards, dairies  and  barns,  pitch  his  own  crops  in  his  own  wisdom  and 
grow  them  in  independence,  making  cotton  and  tobacco  a  clean  surplus, 
and  selling  these  in  his  own  time  and  his  own  chosen  market,  and  not 
at  a  master's  bidding,  getting  pay  in  cash  and  not  in  a  receipted  mort- 
gage that  discharges  his  debt  but  does  not  restore  his  freedom,  then 
and  not  until  then  shall  be  the  breaking  of  the  fullness  of  a  new  day." 

Cooperative  Solution  of  Gaston  Problems 

Xone  of  the  problems  that  present  themselves  can  be  solved  by  the 
farmers  alone.  The  larger  interests  of  farmers,  bankers,  merchants, 
and  consumers  lie  in  co-operation,  not  in  contest.  When  each  class 
works  with  all  its  might  and  main  for  its  own  selfish  ends,  the  benefits 
derived  from  the  whole  will  be  less  than  if  all  were  unselfish  servants 
of  the  common  good. 

Farmers,  merchants,  bankers,  manufacturers,  and  transporters,  are 
closely  knit  into  an  intricate  whole  of  business  interdependence. 
They  are  members  of  one  body,  and  when  one  suffers,  all  suffer.     In 


84      •  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

order  for  the  farmer  to  bridge  the  gulf  between  producers  and  con- 
sumers, he  must  have  the  help  of  bankers  and  supply-merchants.  He 
must  also  have  the  help  of  boards  of  trade  and  transportation  com- 
panies. The  Gastonia  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Greater  Gaston 
Club  have  been  efficient  in  working  up  county  and  city  interest  but 
their  work  in  this  direction  is  barely  yet  begun. 

City  civilization  is  dependent  upon  farm  production.  The  business 
of  the  whole  country  is  determined  largely  by  farm  conditions. 
Market  prices  in  Wall  Street  change  as  the  wires  flash  news  of  good 
or  bad  conditions  in  different  farm  regions.  Poor  crops  and  poor 
prices  in  the  fall  mean  sad  times  for  the  merchants  and  ministers 
alike.  We  depend  primarily  upon  the  farmers'  fields  and  forests  for 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter — the  trinity  of  inescapable  necessities  in 
this  work-a-day  world.  The  demand  for  these  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  farmer's  supply  of  raw  materials  for  them  on  the  other  furnish 
for  manufacturers,  transporters,  and  merchants  their  business,  their 
business  opportunities,  and  the  bulk  of  their  fortunes.  Over  half  the 
railway  business  of  this  country  consists  in  transporting  supplies  to 
farmers  and  the  products  of  the  farm  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 

Southern  cities  in  particular  are  dependent  upon  the  surrounding 
countryside  for  population,  for  renewal  of  population,  for  business  and 
business  genius,  for  civic  and  social  conscience,  and  for  spiritual  guid- 
ance. Three-fourths  of  the  men  in  authority  in  our  churches  were 
born  and  bred  in  the  country;  and  nearly  the  same  is  true  of  our 
successful,  influential  men  of  affairs,  the  merchants,  bankers,  manu- 
facturers, and  lawyers.  Five-sixths  of  the  college  professors  and  six- 
sevenths  of  the  ministers  of  all  denominations  were  born  and  reared 
in  the  country.  On  the  other  hand  the  country  depends  upon  the  cities 
for  market  opportunities,  ready  cash,  and  credit  facilities;  for  manu- 
factured commodities,  the  artifices  of  civilization,  farm  tools  and 
machinery,  the  instruments  of  increased  production,  the  articles  of 
comfort  and  luxury  in  farm  homes;  and  for  ideals  of  progress  and 
prosperity,  material  and  social.  Our  town  and  country  civilization  are 
mutually  dependent.  This  fact  is  fundamental  for  the  nation  as  well 
as  for  Gaston  county.  The  countryside  must  be  efficient,  prosperous, 
satisfying,  and  wholesome,  or  else  the  prosperity  of  Gastonia  is  built 
on  shifting  sands. 

Mutual  Prosperity 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  no  city  can  grow  fat  in  a  lean  country- 
side. Many  cities  in  the  nation  have  realized  this  fact  and  are  doing 
all  in  their  power  to  promote  prosperity  in  the  surrounding  farm 
regions.  They  know  that  their  prosperity  depends  largely  upon  tha 
prosperity  of  the  country  regions  roundabout;  that  better  living  con- 
ditions for  the  farmers  in  their  trade  territories  mean  larger  business 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  85 

and  less  disturbance  in  the  cities.  The  city  must  help  the  farmers 
solve  the  problem  of  local  markets  for  home-raised  food  and  feed 
supplies;  must  help  to  convert  them  into  instant  ready  cash  at  a  fair 
price  and  profit.  Any  help  short  of  this  is  a  vain  pretense  and  a 
hollow  mockery. 

The  bankers  of  Gastonia  and  other  Gaston  towns  can  do  more  in 
a  single  year  to  promote  a  bread-and-meat,  live-at-home  system  of 
farming  in  Gaston  than  our  gospel  of  diversified  farming  is  likely  to 
effect  in  a  lifetime.  The  Texas  bankers  see  this  fact  clearly.  They 
are  refusing  to  discount  a  merchant's  paper  when  it  is  protected  by 
crop-liens  based  on  cotton  acreage  alone.  They  will  discount  no  crop- 
lien  unless  it  contains  a  detailed  written  agreement  by  the  farmer 
with  his  supply  merchant  to  plant  a  certain  acreage,  usually  about 
half  the  total,  in  specified  food  and  feed  crops.  This  kind  of  col- 
lateral changes  the  character  of  the  merchant's  business,  but  it  in- 
creases its  volume  and  bases  it  on  principles  of  safety  instead  of 
hazardous  risks. 

The  mill  population  of  Gaston  is  better  housed  and  better  paid  than 
in  most  other  counties  of  the  state,  and  far  better  than  in  the  mill 
towns  of  New  England;  but  the  conditions  in  many  centers  of  Gaston 
can  be  improved.  Her  mill  owners  have  taken  an  active  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  their  operatives.  They  have  been  wise  enough  to  con- 
serve the  life,  health,  and  strength  of  their  employes.  They  have  been 
busy  considering  the  problems  of  human  efficiency  as  well  as  machine 
efficiency.  The  mill  owners  as  a'rule  are  actively  interested  in  getting 
the  children  to  go  to  school  and  to  become  sturdy  in  mind  and  body 
before  entering  the  mills  for  life.  Good  schools  have  been  provided  in 
the  mill  towns,  grounds  have  been  set  apart  and  equipped  in  many 
of  the  mill  centers,  and  small  parks  have  been  laid  out  and  beautified, 
as  for  instance  at  High  Shoals. 

Opportunities  and  wages  are  both  better  than  they  have  been  in 
the  past,  and  most  of  the  present-day  ills  are  the  direct  result  of  the 
desire  on  the  part  of  parents  to  make  their  children  earn  a  living 
instead  of  going  to  school.  Whenever  under-age  children  are  in  the 
mills,  the  blame  is  apt  to  lie  on  the  parents  rather  than  on  the  mill 
owners.  The  parents  are  not  educated  as  a  rule  and  they  fail  to  see 
why  their  children  should  be  educated.  The  mill  owners  have  co- 
operated with  state  laws  very  consistently.  This  much  must  be  said 
in  all  fairness. 

"Where  Gaston  Lags 

70th  in  Native   white   illiterates   10   years   old   and   over   in 

1910,   percent    14.5 

State  average,   12.3   percent;    United    States   aver- 
age, 4.2  percent. 


86  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

73rd  in  White  school  attendance,   6  to  14  years  of  age,  in 

1910,  percent  72.7 

White  children  of  these  ages  not  in  school  in 
Gaston,   in  1910,  numbered  1,682. 

69th  in  Negro  school  attendance,  6  to  14  years  of  age,  per- 
cent      60.9 

Negro  children  of  these  ages  not  in  school,   849. 

79th  in  Death  rate  per  1,000  population  in  1917 15.2 

State  rate  was  14.1. 

Gaston's  rate   is   1.8   points   worse    than   in    1914. 
Rate  for  the  United  States  registration  area  was 
14. 

57th  in  Church  membership  in  1916,   percent 58 

12,938  people,  10  years  old  and  over,  outside  the 
church,  or  42  percent  of  the  population  of  these 
ages.  State  average  of  church  membership  62 
percent. 

74th  in  Salaries  paid  negro  rural  teachers,  average  in  1916.        $110.00 
In  1918  the  average  annual  salary  was  $96. 

59th  in  Local  school  tax  districts  in  1914,  percent 21.7 

14  local  school  tax  districts;  50  white  school  dis- 
tricts had  no  local  tax.  Only  19  local  tax  dis- 
tricts in  1918. 

59th  in  School    expenditures   per   $1,000    worth   of   property 

in    1914    $7.37 

McDowell  first  with  $20.83.  State  average  $8.03. 
It  was  $10.40  on  the  $1,000  in  Gaston  in  1918. 

68th  in  School  attendance  on  enrollment  in  1916,  percent...  64.4 

In  1918  it  was  only  60  percent.  Henderson  led 
with  86.2  percent.  Mitchell  was  lowest  with 
51.2  percent.  State  average,  68.8  percent.  The 
average  in  Gaston  was  only  60  percent  in  1918 — 
a  loss  of  4  percent  in  two  years. 

44th  in  Rural   schools    (white)    with  two  or  more  teachers 

in   1916,    percent 46 

In  1918,  55  percent  had  two  or  more  teachers. 

54th  in  Average  expenditures  per  high  school  pupil  enrolled, 

1915-16    $23.10 

It  is  a  decrease  of  $6.71  from  the  previous  year. 
Harnett  led  with  $65.13  per  high  school  pupil 
enrolled;  Halifax  was  lowest  with  $8.37.  State 
average,   $25.92. 


Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social  87 

47th  in  Country  wealth,  per  capita  in  1910 $275.00 

Alleghany,  $560;  State  average,  $322;  United 
States,  $994;  Iowa,  $3,386.  In  1913  in  Gaston 
the   per   capita  taxable   wealth   was   only    $394. 

79th  in  Negro  farm  owners,  percent  of  all  negro  farmers..  23 

State  average,  33.  Negro  farm  owners  in  Gaston 
numbered  178.  White  farm  owners  numbered 
over  60  percent  of  all  white  farmers;  in  North 
Carolina  they  were  66   percent. 

62nd  in  Local  taxation  for  schools,  rate  per  $1,000  assessed 

value,  1913-14   $4.80 

Pamlico  led  with  $8.98.  In  1917-18  the  rate  was 
$5.04. 

79th  in  Poultry  decreases,  1900-10,  percent .4 

That  is  to  say,  78  counties  made  a  better  showing. 
Twenty  counties  lost  in  poultry  production  and 
Gaston  was  one  of  these.  In  1910  there  were 
only  62,535   fowls.     Johnston  led  with   127,254. 

41st  in  Swine  per  1,000  acres,  1910  census 34 

State  average,  39;  United  States  average,  66; 
Iowa,  263.  In  1860  the  swine  in  Gaston  were 
15,335,  but  in  1910  they  were  only  6,585. 

33rd  in  Swine  decrease,  1900-10,  percent 3 

Gaston  was  one  of  the  69  counties  that  decreased 
in  swine  production  from  1900-10. 

57th  in  Sheep  losses,  1900-10,  percent 64 

In  1860  there  were  5,386  sheep  in  Gaston,  but  in 
1910  only  501. 

68th  in  Farm   tenancy,   1910,   percent 49.8 

State  average,  42.3  percent.  Increase  in  farm 
tenancy  in  Gaston,  1900-10,  was  5  percent. 
Forty-seven  counties  in  the  state  decreased  in 
farm  tenancy.  White  owners  in  Gaston,  1,243; 
negro  owners,  178.  White  farm  tenants  in 
Gaston,  810;  negro  tenants,  613.  The  landless, 
homeless  white  tenants  and  their  families  num- 
ber about  4,000  souls;  1,116  are  share  tenants, 
and  only  243  are  cash  or  standing-rent  tenants. 
Tenants  raise  cotton  mainly  and  neglect  food 
and  feed  crops. 

41st  in  Crop  yielding  power  per  acre  in  1910 $16.54 


88  Gaston  County:  Economic  and  Social 

75th  in  Annual  production  of  farm  wealth  per  inhabitant. .  $69.60 

State  average,  $85.  Average  for  tfee  French 
farmers,  $126.  Gaston's  low  average  is  largely 
clue  to  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  mill 
operatives  are  counted  in  her  country  popula- 
tion. 

86th  in  Food  and  feed  production,  per  person $30.00 

Needed,   $84   per  person;    deficit,    $54   per   person. 

82nd  in  Corn  production  per  person,  in  1910,  bushels 11 

Needed  per  person  per  year,  31  bushels  (for 
manufacture,  man,  and  beast) ;  deficit  per  per- 
son, 20  bushels.  Total  deficit  for  Gaston,  739,- 
000  bushels.  State  average  production  per  per- 
son, 15  bushels. 

48th  in  Wheat  production  per  acre,  in  1910,  bushels 7 

State  average,  S  bushels  per  acre.  Wayne  ranked 
first  with  30  bushels  per  acre. 

61st  in  Beef  production  per  person,  in  1910,  pounds 21.6 

State  average,   33.8   pounds. 

92nd  in  Pork  production  per  person,.  In  1910,  pounds 19 

State  average,  93  pounds.  Needed  for  home  con- 
sumption, 122  pounds  per  person  per  year. 
Deficit,  103  pounds  per  person. 

84th  in  Poultry  production  per  person,.  In  1910,  fowls 4.46 

Needed  12  fowls  per  person  per  year.  Deficit,  7.54 
fowls.     Total  deficit,  279,400  fowls. 

84th  in  Egg  production  in  1910;  deficit,  In  dozens 335,000 

Needed,  17.5  dozen  per  person  per  year.    Produced 
8.25   dozen,  leaving  a  deficit   of  9.25   dozen   per 
person. 
82nd  in  Increase   in   farm   sales    of   dairy   products,   1900-10, 

percent 38 

Total  sales  in  1910  were  $54,151.  State  increase 
146  percent.  Gaston  produced  16  pounds  of  but- 
ter per  inhabitant  in  1910.  The  average  amount 
needed  was  48  pounds.  Per  capita  deficit  was 
32  pounds  per  person. 

77th  In  Livestock  products  per  person,  in  1910 $13.00 

Alleghany,  $65;  state  average,  $17. 

71st  In  Per  capita  crop  production $48.00 

Total  farm  wealth  produced  was  $65  per  person. 
90th  in  Bill  for  imported  food  and  feed  supplies  in  1910...   $2,378,000 
In  less   than  4  years  it   equals  the   farm   wealth 
accumulated  in  71  years  of  history. 


IF  IT  IS 


Stylish  Wearing  Apparel  of  the  Better 
Kind  for  Ladies,  Misses  or  Children 


VISIT 


THE  McNEELY  COMPANY 


135  West  Main  Avenue 


Gastonia,  N.  C. 


C.  B.  Armstrong,  President 
A.  G.  Myers,  Vice-President 


W.  H.  Adams.  Cashier 

C.  C.  Myers,  Asst.  Cashier 


STATEMENT 

THE  CITIZENS  NATIONAL  BANK 

OF  GASTONIA.  N.  C., 

At  the  Close  of  Business  November  17,  1919 

RESOURCES 

Loans   and   discounts $2,178,244.15 

Overdrafts    158.98 

United  States  and  other  bonds 188.708.26 

Stock  in  Federal  Reserve  Bank 4.500.00 

Banking  house,  furniture  and  fixtures 20.000.00 

Other  real  estate  13,388.49 

Cash  and  due  from  banks 934,728.91 

Total $3,339,728.79 

LIABILITIES 

Capital    $    100.000  00 

Surplus  and  undivided  profits   (earned) $261,952.06 

Less  cash  dividends  paid  stockholders 124.000.00      137.952.06 

Circulation    100.000.00 

Rediscounts    122,801.33 

Deposits    2,878.975.40 

Total $3,339,728.79 

Directors— Andrew  E.  Moore,  H.  W.  Cleveland,  W.  T.  Rankin,  A.  G. 

Myers,  C.  B.  Armstong,  D.  M.  Jones,  W.  D.  Anderson 
Depositary — State  of  North  Carolina,  Gaston  County,  City  of  Gastonia 


EFIRD'S    DEPARTMENT    STORE 

The  greatest  money-saving  opportunities  are  to  be  found  at  Efirds. 
"One  price  only  and  for  cash"  explains  in  a  measure  our  remarkable 
success  in  always  being  able  to  bring  to  the  public  the  market's 
choicest  merchandise  at  prices  lower  than  to  be  found  anywhere  else. 
If  there  is  not  an  Efird  Store  in  your  town,  mail  your  orders  to  the 
nearest  one.  Satisfaction  guaranteed,  or  your  money  refunded. 
Everything  ivorn  by  men,  women  and  children  sold  by  the  Efird  Stores,  i 
and  alivays  for  less.     Get  it  from  Efird's   and  save   the  difference. 

STORES  EVERYWHERE— SELECT  THE  NEAREST  ONE 


Charlotte,  N.  C. 
J.  B.  Efird,  Mgr. 

Winston-Salem,  N.  C. 
E.  L.  Efird,  Mgr. 

Durham,  N.  C. 
J.  W.  Efird,  Mgr. 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 
J.  R.  Efird,  Mgr. 

Concord,  N.  C. 
A.  E.  Harris,  Mgr. 

EFIRD'S 


Gastonia,  N.  C. 

W.  E.  Haynes,  Mgr. 
Salisbury,  N.  C. 

R.  C.  Teague,  Mgr. 
Laurinburg,  N.  C. 

J.  J.  Earl,  Mgr. 
High  Point,  N.  C. 

W.  S.  Lee,  Jr.,  Mgr. 
Rocky  Mount,  N.  C. 

E.  L.  Davis,  Mgr. 
Monroe,  N.  C. 

P.  M.  Kendall,  Mgr. 

EFIRD'S 


Columbia,  S.  C. 
P.  H.  Efird,  Mgr. 

Rock  Hill,  S.  C. 

W.  C.  Caveny,  Mgr. 

Anderson,  S.  C. 
F.  C.  Proctor,  Mgr. 

Greenville,  S.  C. 
S.  B.  Hagler,  Mgr. 

Grier,  S.  C. 

R.  A.  Pounds,  Mgr. 

EFIRD'S 


Rankin- Armstrong  Furniture  Company 

GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

We  solicit,  appreciate,  and  take  care  of  your  business. 
We  furnish  the  home  complete.  Phone  37 


THE  GASTONIA  DAILY  GAZETTE 

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For  forty  years  Gaston  County's  leading  newspaper 

By  mail   $4.00  per  year 

The  Weekly  Gazette,  $1.25  per  year 


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Send  your  subscription  to   Gazette  Publishing   Co.,   Gastonia,  N.   C. 

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I 

I    BESSEMER  CITY  BANK 

j  BESSEMER  CITY,  N.  C. 


!  ; 

R.  C.  Kennedy,  President        0.  M.  Vernon,  Cashier 

\ 

i        Directors — Moses    Stroup,    I.    A    .White,   John   J.    George,    John   J.       I 

Ormond,  R.  C.  Kennedy,  0.  M.  Vernon,  Rev.  R.  R.  Caldwell  | 

I  I 

|  We  appreciate  your  business.     All  business,  large  or  \ 

small,  given  our  prompt  and  careful  attention.     Five 


per  cent  paid  on   certificates   of  deposit.     Join   our  { 

Pin-Money  Christmas  Saving  Club 


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SOUND  SAFE  SECURE         j 


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I  BESSEMER  CITY  GARAGE          | 

BESSEMER  CITY,  N.  C. 

! 

|  ALL  KINDS  OF  REPAIRING        SUPPLIES,  OILS,  GAS      j 

I  j 

'  Satisfaction  Guaranteed                                      j 

)  j 


|  LEWIS  &  RIDENHOUR  ! 

Mount  Holly,  North  Carolina 

!  n"     -  i 

I  Druggists  j 

!  ! 

!  NORRIS  CANDIES                 CONKLIN  FOUNTAIN  PENS              | 

i  i 


!  I 

|        J.  A.  Costner,  Cashier  H.  A.  Rhyne,  President  \ 

J.  M.  Springs,  Vice-President  \ 

j  MOUNT  HOLLY  BANK  j 

I  MOUNT  HOLLY,  N.  C.  \ 

I  i 

Capital    %  25,000.00  j 

Deposits   250,000.00  j 

We  solicit  your  account. 

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i        We  expect  to  have  our  new  bank  building  completed  early  in  1920.  | 

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I  ; 

|    SAUNDERS  TAILORING  COMPANY 

I       231  West  Main  Street  Phone  144  Gastonia,  N.  C. 

I 

Hats  Cleaned  and  Reblocked 

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{  Suits  Made  to  Measure 

!  j 

Cleaning  —  Pressing  —  Altering  j 

! 


! 

j            PADGETT  TAILORING  COMPANY  I 

j       R.  T.  Padgett,  Proprietor                                           GASTONIA,  N.  C.  I 

Suits  made  to  measure.     Fit,  style,  satisfaction,  quality.  •- 

j  I 

Sanitary  Steam  Pressing.  j 

!    CAROLINA  CAFE  GASTonia,  n.  c. 

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When  in  Gastonia  visit  the  Carolina  Cafe  I 
[                        A  sanitary  place  to  eat  at  a  popular  price 

i  ! 


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KIRBY- WARREN  COMPANY 

!       203  West  Main  St.  GASTONIA,  N.  C.  Phone  159 

.  I 

"The  Home  of  Good  Clothes'" 

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Sellers  of  the  Better  Kinds  of  Men  s  and  Boys  Wear  , 


Furnishing  Goods,  Hats  and  Caps,  Trunks  and  Traveling  Bags 


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''The  Right  Goods  at  the  Right  Price" 

!  ! 


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!    SPENCER  LUMBER  CO. 

J  - 

INCORPORATED  i 

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GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

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Lumber  and  Mill  Work 

!  I 


i  ] 

\  H.  M.  VANSLEEN 

I  ! 

GASTONIA,  N.  C.  ) 

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|        Jewelry,  Watches,  Silverware  A  square  deal  and  one  price  to  all 

i  t 


!  ; 

I  A.  R.  HOLLAND 

i  I 

DALLAS,  N.  C.  | 

Dealer  in  Plain  and  Fancy  Groceries,  Notions,   Glassware,  Crockerv 

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I  H.  SCHNEIDER 

j  GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

I 

We  recommend  to  all  young  men  and  those  who  like  to  look  young  the 

Varsity  Fiftv-Five  Suit,  made  by  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx. 

I  * 

A.^^nM. .. _ __ ..♦. 


j  SHERMAN  BROTHERS  ! 


GASTONIA,  N.  C. 


I       Kuppenheimer  Clothing         Crawford  Shoes         Specialties 

i  I 


!  ! 

j  J.  R.  LEWIS  COMPANY 

DALLAS,  N.  C. 

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j  Department  Store  (including  Hardware  and  Groceries) 

§  \ 


♦;..« 


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j  A.  P.  H.  RHYNE  &  SON  I 

I 

DALLAS,  N.  C.  j 


Dealers  in  Dry  Goods,  Notions,  Shoes,  Hats,  Caps,  and  Groceries 


THE  B.-J.  COMPANY 


j  GASTONIA,  N.  C.  ( 


Wholesale  Fruits  and  Produce 
I  I 

|  It  will  pay  you  to  see  us  | 

We  carry  a  full  line  of  Fruits  and  Produce 


Gaston  Loan  and  Trust  Co. 


GASTONIA,  N.  C. 


Solicits  both  checking  and  savings  accounts. 

Extends  to  its  depositors  all  accommodations 

permitted  by  good  banking.      We  want  your 

business. 


T.  L.  Craig,  President.  E.  G.  McLurd,  Vice-President 

M.  A.  Carpenter,  Treasurer 


A.  M.  Smyre,  President    Fred  L.  Smyre,  Vice-President 
C.  M.  Boyd,  Secretary-Treasurer 


Gastonia  Hardware  Co. 

GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

General  Hardware  and  Mill  Supplies 

Horse-drawn  and  Tractor  Implements 

Auto  Tires  and  Sundries 


Yours  for  Service 


Ph 


j  B.  H.  PARKER  I 

GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

j    FORD -the  Universal  Car 


zens  of  Gaston  and  adjacent  counties 


SALES  —  SERVICE  —  REPAIRS  j 

Use  genuine  repair  parts 

* 

Fordson  Tractors,  Farm  Implements,  Engines 

Lighting  Plants,  Fresh-water  Plants,  Saw  Out- 

|  fits,  Pumps,  and  anything  to  lighten  the  load 

|  of  farm  work 


i 1 

SPENCER  ATKINS  BOOK  CO. 

I  GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

j 

Office  Outfitters  j 

I 

j     Books,  Stationery,  Office  Supplies,  'n  Everything 
1  PHONE  265 


I        ROBINSON  SHOE  COMPANY        j 

!  GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

|  Phone  us  when  you  are  in  need  of  j 

j  shoes  for  any  member  of  the  family 

We   give   you   prompt    local    delivery   service,   and 


mail  parcels  post  packages  out  on  first  train  after 


receiving  order.     We  distribute  shoes  to  the   citi-  j 


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"The  Home  of  Good  Shoes"  j 


Phone  121  I 


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j  GASTONIA,  N.  C 

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SWEETLAND  CANDY  COMPANY     i 

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The  leading  place  to  get  at  wholesale  or  retail  price  | 

|  ! 

The  Best  Ice  Cream  j 

j                         Fine  Home-Made  Candies  ' 

Fruits  of  All  Kinds  , 

'  I 

!  In  their  retail  store  at  113  West  Main  Avenue,  you  can 

get  the  best  of  anything  in  the  above  mentioned   as  * 

well  as  excellent  service  in  their  ice-cream  parlor  for  * 

i                                     ladies  and  gentlemen.     Come  or  call.  [ 

i 

SWEETLAND  CONFECTIONERY  j 


113  West  Main  Avenue  Phone  197 


Standard  Hardware  Company 


DEALERS  IN 


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i  1J.O  wesi  lviain  /wenue  riiune  ii»/  t 

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I 

i 
i 
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I        l-ht'.li  ,  :  I  ,'   I    I  M  ■;  .  :  II 


J 

Gastonia,  North  Carolina 


(  General  Hardware 


j  Stoves  and  Ranges,  Farm  Implements 

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j     Toys  and  Sporting  Goods,  Paints  and  Varnishes 

I  | 

I  Builders'  Hardware,  Cutlery,  Fire  Arms 


j  Gasoline  Engines  and  Tractors 


PINKNEY  MILLS,  Inc. 

RANKIN  MILLS,  Inc. 

RIDGE  MILLS,  Inc. 


OF 


GASTONIA,  N.  C. 

Offer  every  advantage  to  those  seeking 
indoor  employment.  Equipment  con- 
sists of  good  schools,  churches,  mod- 
ern bungalows,  well  ventilated  and 
lighted  mill  buildings,  and  good  living 
conditions. 

Fine  combed  yarns  of  the  highest  qual- 
ity are  manufactured  at  these  plants. 


R.  G.  Rankin,  President  and  Treasurer 

Henry  Rankin,  Vice-President 

L.  S.  Rankin,  Secretary 


THE  MODENA  COTTON  MILLS 

GASTONIA,  N.  C. 


AND 


THE  MOROWEBB  COTTON  MILLS 

DALLAS,  N.  C. 


Offer  splendid  advantages  to  textile 
workers  seeking  employment  in  Gas- 
ton County.  Excellent  school  facili- 
ties, good  churches,  modern  homes, 
and  a  clean,  healthy  environment. 


Fur  further  information  write 
J.  0.  White,  President 


Modena  Cotton  Mills  Morowebb  Cotton  Mills 

Gastonia,  N.  C.  Dallas,  N.  C. 


I    THE  GREENSBORO  DAILY  NEWS 

f  GREENSBORO,  N.'C. 

! 

I       The  State's  Leading  Neivspaper- — Independent   in   Politics 

i 

With  unexcelled  news-gathering  facilities,  with  its  own  Washing-  i 

I        ton  office  and  private  wire  to   convey  each  night  the  exclusive   dis-  ) 

patches  of  Theodore  Tiller,  David  Lawrence,  and  C.  W.  Gilbert,  the  | 

Daily  News  each  morning  presents,  clearly  and  without  prejudice,  the  t 

political  news  of  the  day.     If  you  want  to  read  each  morning  the  news 

'■'!        of  the  world,  presented  truthfully,  intelligently — facts,  not  opinions — 

\        subscribe  now.  ■ 


I 


1  CRAIG  &  WILSON 


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GASTONIA,  N.  C.  j 

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Automobiles  and  Accessories  i 

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'  Horses,  Mules,  Wagons,  Buggies 

j  and  Farming  Implements 

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Call  and  see  our  line        j 

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j 
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I  W.  H.  WRAY  GASTONIA,  N.  c. 

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HIGH-GRADE  AUTOMOBILES 

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Dodge — Reo— Hudson — Essex 

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The 


University  of  North  Carolina 


Maximum  Service  to  the  People 
of  the  State 


Regular  Instruction  for  students  in  Accounting,  Foreign 
Trade.  Banking,  Transportation,  Political  Economy,  Business  Law, 
Electrical  Engineering,  Chemical  Engineering,  Highway  Engineering, 
Soil  Investigation,  Journalism,  Social  Science,  Government,  Education, 
Music,  and  all  subjects  embraced  in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  the 
Schools  of  Applied  Science,  Law,  Medicine,  Pharmacy,  Commerce, 
and  the  Graduate  School. 

Special  Instruction  for  teachers  and  those  preparing  to 
teach  in  subjects  offered  by  the  School  of  Education  and  the  Summer 
School. 

Military  Instruction  under  the  direction  of  the  Faculty 
and  the  United  States  War  Department  for  students  in  a  regular 
Reserve   Officers'   Training   Corps. 

General  Instruction  for  the  public  through  the  follow- 
ing departments  of  the  Bureau  of  Extension:  (1)  General  Informa- 
tion; (2)  Lectures  and  Study  Centers;  (3)  Home  Study  Courses; 
(4)  Debate  and  Declamation;  (5)  County  Economic  and  Social  Sur- 
veys; (6)  Municipal  Reference;  (7)  Educational  Information  and 
Assistance;  (8)  Women's  Club  Activities;  (9)  Home  Comforts  and 
Conveniences. 

Write  to  the  University  when  you  need  help. 


For  further  information,  address 

The  President  of  the  University 
Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 


i     GASTONIA  FURNITURE  CO.,  Inc. 

I  GASTONIA,  N.C.  I 


I 

I         WE  CARRY  THE  PRETTIEST  LINE  OF  HOME  FURNISHINGS 

IN   A   PRETTY,   WELL  ARRANGED    STORE.    YOU   ARE 
I  INVITED.    MAIL  ORDERS  HAVE  PROMPT  ATTENTION 


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■  I 

GASTONIA  FURNITURE  CO.,  Inc. 

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The  Home  of  Fine  Furniture 

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Greetings  to  the  University  Boys! 

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Jewelers-Opticians 

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I  GASTONIA,  N.C. 

!  j 

Expert  Repairing     Artistic  Engraving 

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Established  1885 

\ j 


TORRENCE-MORRIS  COMPANY 


THE 


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FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK 


GASTONIA,  N.  C. 


Capital $250,000 

Surplus  and  Profits     $325,000 


Depository 

U.  S.  Government 
State  of  North  Carolina 
County  of  Gaston 
City  of  Gastonia 


This  Bank  has  been  a  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  Gaston  County  for  many  years. 

Commencing  business  in  1890,  we  have  since  that  time 
sought  opportunity  to  assist  every  enterprise  which  would 
add  to  the  moral  and  industrial  welfare  of  our  county. 

We  invite  interviews  with  any  one  having  plans  for  the 
further  development  of  this  community,  pledging  in  advance 
our  sympathy  and  support. 


L.  L.  Jenkins,  President 
J.  Lee  Robinson  S.  M.  Boyce,  Cashier 

R.  R.  Ray  M.  T.  Wilson 

Vice-Presidents  Assistant  Cashier 


